Happily Ever After?
by hxchick
Summary: Sequel to An Unconventional Family. Dave, JJ and Abby thought that life would be easier after the wedding, but they quickly learn it's not, especially when an event occurs that threatens to unravel everything. Maybe hints of H/P & M/G later. OC. AU.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 1

**~This story takes place one year after the wedding in _An Unconventional Family._ If you haven't read that story, you will want to read it first as this story will make much more sense.**

**~This is a huge chapter and it won't be the norm for this story. I considered breaking it into three separate chapters, but a lot of it is background, so I decided to keep it as one large chapter. Be sure to drop me a PM or review to let me know how you like it so far...reviews keep me motivated!**

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The first thing David Rossi noticed when he opened the door to the cabin, was the smell of chicken and noodles cooking in the slow cooker. As he hung his jacket on the hook near the door, he remembered that his daughter had combined everything in the cooker that morning, before leaving to meet up with her friends. His daughter. He never got sick of saying or thinking that. His daughter. His wife.

He, JJ and Abby had all been together for two years now; the first year was spent wooing the girls and getting to know them while the second year had been more about getting used to being a family. As he looked around, he could see evidence of his family pretty much everywhere. He could tell that Abby was home by the trail of debris that led from the front door, up the stairs and, presumably, to her bedroom door. He could also see his wife's effect in the room as well, from the papers spread out on the coffee table to her sneakers on the floor near the sofa. As someone who liked things neat and orderly, his girls' messiness was something he sometimes had trouble with, but it was worth it to have them in his life. There were days he was afraid he would wake up and find that he was still the alcohol swilling, hermitic bachelor he had been before he had reconnected with JJ and learned about their daughter. He was still sometimes amazed that they wanted…no, _needed _him to be a part of their family.

Sure, things hadn't always been smooth sailing during his year of marriage to Jennifer, he thought as he climbed the steps to the second floor. He and JJ had had to adjust to being husband and wife, especially at work. Of course there were people who thought JJ was using him to further her career, but he had silenced those idiots fairly quickly, and his way of silencing them was to have them transferred to the great Northwest. They also did their fair share of arguing, which was to be expected between two people who were as stubborn as they were, but they usually made up within a day or two, and the makeup was usually worth the argument.

Things also weren't always rosy living with a teenage girl in the house. Dave was still amazed at the way his daughter's mood could change in an instant. One minute she could be happy and smiling, and the next minute she could be crying and screaming at him. And God help him if he even _hinted_ that her mood could be caused by PMS! Then he would have both his feminist wife and feminist daughter come down on him for attributing everything to their hormones. Abby was also just as stubborn as he and JJ were, so it made for some interesting arguments between the three of them. Thankfully his daughter rarely let her temper get the best of her, and she was well behaved for her age, so they didn't have to punish her often. She also didn't normally shout hurtful things at either of them during their arguments. She had never screamed that she hated him, like his sisters had when they were her age; instead, during one of their arguments she had taken a deep breath and said, "I love you, but I don't _like _you much right now." That had been his cue to back off and he had. All in all, she was a fairly easy teenager to raise, but she did have her moments.

His work life had also changed in the last two years. He had returned to the BAU with the intention of wooing JJ, but he found he liked being back at work. That changed once he got to know his daughter. Any time the team went out of town, he found himself thinking about her and wondering about her well-being. He also began seeing similarities to her in all of their female victims. It didn't matter if they were eight years old or eighty, he would see his daughter in every one of them. It got to the point that he began staying in Quantico for some of their cases, and he would work the case via teleconference. This let him take care of Abby and, as a result, they had become close. Now that he was working on another book, and his daughter was entering her last semester of high school, he had become a consultant for the BAU. This meant he didn't go into headquarters on a regular basis and if the team needed help with a case, he assisted them via his home telephone. Every once in a while a really difficult case came up and he would join the team in the field, but those cases were few and far between. He hated that he wasn't there to protect JJ, but he knew Hotch loved her like a sister, and he knew the unit chief would take care of her. Besides, he knew he would return to a full agent role just as soon as Abby entered college, and with the budget shortfall, the bureau had been more than happy to reduce his position and salary.

Once he hit the second floor of the cabin, he stopped in front of Abby's room to touch base with her and found her room empty. He crossed the hall to his own room and changed into his workout clothes. He assumed his daughter was in the newly built gym, and he knew he could use a workout, so he decided to join her.

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As Abby ran on the treadmill, she cranked up the volume on her iPod and stared at the scenery through the floor to ceiling windows that made up an entire wall of the family gym. Since they lived so far out of the city, it wasn't easy to run to the gym to work out, so her dad had converted one of the outbuildings into a family gym complete with a treadmill, elliptical machine, exercise bike, weight-lifting equipment and a large hot tub. Looking at the peaceful vista in front of her put her in a contemplative mood and she thought about her life over the past few years. Before her father entered the picture, it had been just her and her mom and she thought that was all she needed, she didn't think she needed a dad since she had her Uncle Aaron and Jack, but she had been wrong. Once her dad became a part of her life, she knew their family was complete, she knew she did in fact need her father in her life. It nearly killed her when he left them two summers ago and she was eternally grateful he had returned to them, even if it had left her with a few abandonment issues.

She had also never seen her mother as happy as she was with her father. Sure, they had arguments that shook the roof rafters, but they usually made up quickly and she never doubted the love they had for her or for each other. She also had arguments with both her mother and her father, since her father could be an overprotective caveman and her mother could be really nosy at times, but for the most part they gave her a lot of freedom, and she rarely felt the need to test that freedom. She also knew the one thing they had no tolerance for was lying, so she tried to be as open and honest with them as she could. Sure, they didn't know_ everything_ that went on in her life, but they knew about most of the important stuff. In return, she knew her parents were open and honest with her, even when she didn't want them to be.

Glancing at the clock, she saw that she had been running for over an hour. She knew the chicken and noodles that she was slow cooking for dinner must be ready by now, so she slowed the treadmill and took her ear buds out of her ears. As she stepped off of the machine, she heard a deep voice say, "That looked like quite a run, Pumpkin."

"Holy shit," Abby gasped in surprise. To her knowledge she had been alone in the gym the entire time and it was disconcerting to know that someone else was in there with her. "Dad! When did you get back?"

"About half an hour ago, but I've only been in here for the last ten minutes," he told her from his perch on the exercise bike behind her. While she was studying at school, he had been attempting to work on his manuscript, but he had a massive case of writer's block. Thinking some fresh air might help, he had gone for a long walk around the property. Unfortunately, it hadn't helped. "By the way, that's a dollar."

Abby gave a frustrated sigh, "It shouldn't count when you scare the bejesus out of me!" Six months ago, her mother had instituted a 'swear jar' in an effort to curb the profane language that had made its way into each of their vocabularies, due largely in part to Dave's casual usage of the offensive words. For every swear word said, the offender had to put one dollar into the swear jar and at the end of the month they donated the money to a local charity. They could have gone back to Hawaii with all of the money that first month, again due largely in part to Dave, but with each passing month the amount of money in the jar decreased. It was JJ's hope that the jar would eventually stand empty.

"Sorry Pumpkin, I don't make the rules, I just follow them," he said with a smile. His smile turned into a grin when he heard his daughter grumble, "Since when?"

"Let's see, for the last three hundred and sixty-nine days…in other words, since I said 'I do' to your mother."

"Whatever," she mumbled taking a drink. "You know you actually have to pedal that thing in order for it to count as exercise, right? It's not like you're going to get in shape by just sitting in the gym watching other people work out," she snarked at him.

"Someone's in a mood," he remarked as he stepped off of the bike and handed her a towel so she could wipe the sweat off of her face.

She glared at him for a second before realizing that, yeah, she _was _in a shitty mood. "Sorry dad, it's just my frickin' Shakespeare class, I hate it! I'm _never_ going to do well on the final." Abby was still on her Christmas break, but her semester didn't end until the end of January, so she still had finals to face when she returned to school. "I mean, why can't he speak English? Why can't he just say what he means instead of making it sound so stupid?"

Dave hated Shakespeare as much as his daughter did, so he was of no help to her in that subject. Actually, he was no help to her in _any_ of her subjects since he had barely scraped by in high school, while she maintained an A average. He couldn't count the number of times both he and JJ had enlisted Reid's help for some of Abby's homework. "First, he _is_ speaking English; it's just a different form."

"The jackass form?"

"And that's another dollar," Dave told her and got a scowl in return. "Second, I'm sure you're going to do fine on the final, but its okay if you don't, all your mother and I ask is that you try your best."

"It _isn't_ okay if I don't do well! If I don't get an A in this class, then I'm out of the running for valedictorian!" Abby was neck in neck with two other kids in her class for the title and she was determined to win.

Knowing she wouldn't calm down about this until after the final was over, Dave decided to change the subject, "How about we go in for dinner? I could smell the chicken and noodles when I was inside earlier and I was practically drooling."

Abby nodded, grabbed her iPod and let her father lead her back to the cabin.

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As JJ entered the cabin, she was greeted by the sound of laughter coming from the kitchen. She kicked off her shoes, set her bag on the ground and made her way down the hallway. She stopped in front of the kitchen and watched her husband and daughter interact with each other. Even though it was only six o'clock, Abby was in her pajamas and Dave looked comfortable in sweatpants and a t-shirt. Dave had made Abby laugh by telling her something, and Abby made Dave laugh in return by making a face at him. As she watched them, she couldn't help but feel a little jealous; a part of her wished she could be the one to stay home with their daughter all day, but she loved her job and she knew she was setting a good example for Abby by being a strong and respected woman in a male dominated field. Plus, a part of her would always feel bad for keeping Dave and Abby apart for the first fifteen years of her life, and she knew this was a way for her to try and make it up to them so she didn't complain about missing out on things, or on their closeness, even if she _did_ feel like an outsider sometimes.

Like her daughter, JJ had always felt their family had been complete with just the two of them. She knew her own father hadn't done much for her except put a roof over her head and food on the table, and since she could do that for Abby, she didn't think her daughter needed a father. Boy, had she been wrong. In the two years since Dave had been in their lives, both she and her daughter had blossomed. JJ had found a love she never knew was possible, and Abby felt the unconditional love of another parent. There were times when she wanted to pinch herself, as her life felt like a dream, but she was afraid to in case she really _did _wake up to find herself back in their tiny apartment.

Part of her had been afraid that her daughter would change once Dave was in their lives, and she did, but the change was for the better. Because Dave had money, JJ had been afraid that Abby would change into a spoiled, entitled teenager, but she hadn't. Instead, she transformed into a more confident young woman. Sure, she still had her typical teenage moments of tantrums and tears, but all in all she didn't give them much grief or attitude.

Another part of her had been afraid that she herself would change once Dave was in their lives and, like her daughter, she had also changed but it was also for the better. JJ had learned how to stand up to an overbearing, protective and somewhat sexist Neanderthal and she was able to use that newly acquired skill with reporters at crime scenes and press conferences. Because of the total trust she had in her husband, she had also learned that it was okay to let her guard down and love someone completely. That change had brought her much happiness in her life.

Dave finally noticed her standing in the doorway. He quickly crossed the room and gave her a somewhat fervent kiss. Abby, who was used to her parents displays of affection, just kept cooking. Besides, this wasn't the worst thing she had ever seen between her parents. Right after they were married, they had tended to carry on like the newlyweds that they were with the making out when they thought she wasn't looking. There was also one mortifying occasion where she came home from the library early and had walked in on her parents being…affectionate with each other in the great room. Deeply affectionate. As in, she wished there was brain bleach so she could wash that moment from her brain. The result of that encounter was a promise from her parents to restrict their activities to their bedroom, a long sex talk from her mother later that night and a sofa that she would no longer sit on. In comparison, her parent's passionate kiss was nothing.

Once they finally separated, Dave poured his wife a glass of wine. "How was work?" He asked her.

She sighed, "Meetings, meetings and more meetings. God, I think the Ice Queen is trying to bore me to death!"

Dave grinned, "Want me to have a chat with her?"

"No! The last person you 'had a chat with' hasn't been seen since!"

Still smiling, Dave poured himself another glass of wine. "It's purely a coincidence that Agent Malloy transferred to Anchorage after he and I had a discussion about your marital status."

JJ snorted as she took a draw of the wine, "Discussion? I heard he wet himself and then fled the building."

"Well fuck Jen; the guy should know what a ring on someone's left hand means!" Dave said, frustrated.

"You owe a dollar!" Abby sang triumphantly. After her own donation to the swear jar, due half in part to her father's sneakiness in the gym, she was ecstatic that he also had to pay.

Dave grumbled something under his breath as he put a dollar into the jar. JJ just smiled as she drank her wine. "How was your day, Abby?"

"Other than worrying about my godda-god dang Shakespeare class, everything was fine. I slept in and then hung out at the mall with my friends for most of the afternoon and then I came home and worked out. It was pretty low key, just how I wanted the last Friday of my Christmas break to be." Abby was happy that she caught her swear in time and smiled smugly at her father.

"Why don't you jump in a quick shower and then we'll eat dinner?" Dave suggested to his wife.

She shook her head, "If I take a shower, it will make me sleepy and I'll pass out before I eat. Let's eat now and then we can all watch a movie together and _then_ I'll shower."

"Sounds good," Dave said as he helped his daughter carry the food to the table. Once everything was set, the three of them sat down to a nice family dinner.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 2

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Once grace had been said and everyone had served themselves some of the chicken and noodle concoction, JJ turned the subject back to Abby's upcoming semester.

"How are the college applications coming honey?" JJ asked as she dug into her dinner.

Abby sighed, "Slowly, very slowly."

"Why is that?" Her father asked, quirking his eyebrow; normally his daughter finished school related tasks well before their deadlines, but she seemed to be taking a while with the applications.

"Each school wants a different essay, so I'm writing about a million of them right now, and I get them confused in my brain. Why can't colleges use the same questions on their applications?"

"Because that would make life much too easy for you," her father replied dryly, as he poured dressing on his salad.

"Yeah well, I could do with some easiness right now," Abby told him.

"What kind of questions are they asking?" Her mother asked her, flashing back to her own college search and application experience

"UVA wants me to 'write about any interesting experience I've had during my college admission search.' Come on! There is _nothing _interesting about the college search! Georgetown wants me to 'relate my interest in studying at Georgetown to my future goals.' Isn't that what college is for? To help me_ come up_ with future goals?"

"They probably want you to talk about how your major will help you later in life. You are still planning on majoring in pre-law, aren't you Pumpkin?"

Abby nodded and her mother asked about the questions some of the other schools were asking.

"American University wants me to discuss a personal, local, national or international issue that is important to me, and NYU wants me to 'indicate a person who has had significant influence on me' and they want me to discuss that influence-" Dave interrupted his daughter.

"That one could be interesting; do you know who you're going to write about?" He asked.

"I'm going to write about mom," she said nonchalantly. She was surprised to see her mother's eyes fill with tears. "God mom, it's just a college application, it's not like I'm writing a novel about our relationship."

JJ nodded, "I know, it's just nice to know that I'm still important to you." She saw Abby roll her eyes at this. "Hey, it's not easy seeing my baby growing up! It's nice to know that I'm still an important part of your life."

Abby smiled at her and continued describing the various essays to her parents. Since she was applying to six colleges, there really were a lot of essays to write, and she picked at her food while she talked about them.

JJ, seeing her daughter's increased agitation about discussing college, tried to change the subject.

"So did you decide whether or not you're going to go to the sports banquet on Saturday?" The varsity sports banquet was an annual event at Edmund Burke, and it honored all of the varsity athletes, both male and female. Abby wanted to go, but it was the type of function that required a date, and Abby was not currently seeing anybody.

She nodded, "Yeah, Jack and I decided to go together."

Dave's fork clattered out of his hand at his daughter's announcement. "What?" He asked in disbelief.

"Jack and I are going together," his daughter repeated. "He doesn't have a girlfriend and I don't have a boyfriend and we both really want to go, so we're going together." Jack was on the varsity track team, so he also had an invitation to the banquet. "We're just going as friends."

Dave thought about that for a minute, "Well…that's okay then…I guess." As a legendary profiler, he had been picking up on some subtle signals between his daughter and his godson for awhile, and he wasn't quite sure how he felt about it. On the one hand, he knew Jack was a good kid and he knew he would respect his daughter, but on the other hand, Jack was a BOY! And he wasn't comfortable with Abby dating _anyone_.

"I'm glad you approve," Abby said with a smirk

"Are you going to need a new dress for it?" JJ asked her. While the sports banquet wasn't quite as formal as the prom, it was close and she knew that her daughter didn't have many dresses that would work for the occasion.

Abby scrunched up her forehead in thought, "Yeah, I probably will," she told her mother.

JJ nodded, "Okay, how about we go out looking on Tuesday night? You can ride in to Quantico with me, take the Metro to school from there and then I'll pick you up after school and we'll go shopping."

Mentally reviewing her schedule in her head, Abby nodded, "Sounds great mom."

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A snowstorm hit that weekend, so the three of them just lounged around the cabin and went for walks in the snow all weekend. On Monday, Abby returned to school, JJ returned to work and Dave went back to working on his latest book. On Tuesday, Abby rode into town with her mother, instead of taking her car, and they made plans to meet after school let out. Since she had ridden in with her mother, she was surprised to see her father's SUV parked outside of her school later that afternoon.

"Hey," she said as she climbed into the passenger seat. "Where's mom?"

"On a case in Utah," her dad replied as he waited for her to buckle her seatbelt. "You're stuck with me today."

"Um, that's okay, I can find one of my friends to go shopping with," she told him. She had gone clothes shopping with him only a few times and each time had been disastrous. Because they each had _much _different tastes in clothing, their few shopping trips had resulted in frustration and more than a few tears on Abby's part.

"Don't be silly, I have the afternoon free and you need a dress, let's go get one." Her dad seemed really eager to help her pick out a dress, so Abby relented.

"Okay, let's go shopping," she agreed, sending up a silent prayer that this time it would be a different experience with him.

"Great, so where are we going?"

"I was thinking of looking at Urban Chic in Georgetown. It's right on Wisconsin Ave."

"Georgetown it is," he agreed as he pulled out into traffic.

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Two hours later it was abundantly clear to Abby that the fates weren't listening to her prayers, as she was trying on her sixth dress of the excursion. Like in regular clothing, she and her father had vastly different tastes when it came to dresses. Her dad wanted her to either look like a nun or a twelve year old, while she wanted something that was modern and somewhat flirty. It was clear they were never going to come to a decision on a dress.

As she zipped the dress up in the back, she looked in the mirror and grimaced. She didn't know they made formal dresses with this much material. As she stepped out of the dressing room, she saw her father nod in approval.

"It looks wonderful Pumpkin!"

"Are you kidding? This dress is hideous!" Abby hissed quietly. She knew the saleslady was lurking around them somewhere and she didn't want to be rude, but really, the dress was awful!

"What's wrong with it?" Dave asked, hoping he could talk her into that one.

"What _isn't_ wrong with it?" She asked as she studied herself in the three-way mirror. "First of all, it's green and green has never been a good color on me." She saw her dad shake his head to argue with her, but she kept on going. "Second, the shape is horrible; I looked like I gained twenty pounds. And finally, this thing covers me from my neck to my ankles. I could walk around Saudi Arabia in this thing and not get hassled!"

Dave let out a frustrated sigh, "Guys like a little mystery Pumpkin."

"Yeah, and they also like to see a little skin. Seriously dad, do you _really_ think this looks good on me? Be honest."

He looked at her closely and then finally shook his head, "No, I guess it really doesn't," he admitted.

"_Thank_ you!" She exclaimed before practically running back into the dressing room to change. When she emerged, she saw her dad looking through the racks of dresses again. "Find anything?" She asked, her stomach churning with dread.

He shook his head, "Maybe we should try someplace else," he suggested.

Abby shook her head, "Do you really think we're going to find anything? Come on dad, our tastes are just too different. I'll just go out with my friends tomorrow night to find a dress."

He shook his head as they walked out the door, "No way, I want you to have an adult's opinion on the appropriateness of any dress you buy."

"How about if I get Aunt Cathy or Aunt Anna to go out with me?" She suggested as they walked down the street. They hadn't been able to find a parking space near the store and they had a bit of a trek back to the car.

"_Hell_ no! My sisters would probably get you a tube top and miniskirt as payback for all of the times I made them change before going out on dates."

"What about Garcia?" Her father just looked at her. "Fine, bad choice. How about Nonna?"

Dave thought about that for a minute. His mother tended to dress conservatively and she had a knack for picking out classy and elegant outfits. "Okay, I'll agree to that."

"Thank God!" Abby exclaimed and then stopped dead in her tracks. "I forgot there's a Five Guys restaurant here," she said, pointing at the red and white awning above them. "It's getting kind of late, wanna grab dinner?"

Dave thought for a minute; the menu at Five Guys wasn't exactly a low cholesterol one, and he _did _promise his wife that he would watch his cholesterol intake, but he had just spent the last two hours arguing over dresses with a teenage girl and he felt he deserved a treat. Besides, after that _nothing _could kill him!

Nodding, they both stepped inside and enjoyed some great hamburgers.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 3

**~Sorry if my writing is off in this one, I'm currently on a road trip in the middle of the desert...in July...with my family...you do the math.**

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Hearing the doorbell, Dave emerged from the study to answer the door. To his surprise, his mother stood on the porch and she was holding a small tote bag.

"Ma, what are you doing here?" Dave asked as he searched his memory to try and recall any plans he had with her for the evening.

"Abby called me, she needs some help getting her hair right for tonight and since Jennifer is still out of town, she called me for help," Marie informed him as she hung her jacket on a hook near the door.

"The team actually just arrived back at headquarters, so Jen should be home before Abby leaves tonight." It was the night of the big sports banquet and JJ didn't want to miss seeing her daughter in her dress. They also had plans with Hotch and Emily for the evening, and they were going to bring Jack with them to the cabin and then he and Abby were going to take her car to the banquet. While the kids were out, the four adults were going to have a leisurely dinner and drinks.

"That's great Davie, now out of my way," she ordered as she pushed past him and went up the stairs to deal with the hair emergency. She paused in front of her granddaughter's bedroom and knocked.

"Nonna?" She heard.

"It's me, little one."

"Come on in!" Marie entered the room and, as always, was immediately struck by the décor of the room. The room itself was painted pink, which was her granddaughter's favorite color, but the walls were adorned with pictures of her family and friends, and since the last time she had been in the room, some of the pictures had changed. Sure, she had the prerequisite pictures of teenage heartthrobs on the walls, and a poster declaring her as part of 'Team Edward,' whatever _that_ was, but the most of the wall coverings were photos of her with her loved ones. It made the somewhat messy room feel warm and inviting.

"So what do you want to do with your hair tonight?"

"Well, I want a little bit of curl in my hair…you know, so it looks wavy, but I either get too much curl or too little curl and it's driving me nuts!" Abby said, frustrated.

"Don't worry little one, I used to do my daughters' hair and I can help you." Marie had Abby bring her desk chair into the bathroom and had her sit in front of the mirror. She picked up the curling iron and began to work her magic on her granddaughter's tresses.

"So you and Jack are finally going out on a date?" Her grandmother asked.

"We're just going as friends Nonna," Abby told her. "There's nothing going on between us."

"Maybe not yet, but there will be, trust me."

Abby just shrugged; she couldn't deny that she had been feeling…different towards Jack lately. It's like she finally noticed that he was a good looking guy. Before he was just Jack, but now it was more than that, and she wasn't quite sure what to do about these new feelings.

An hour later, she stood in front of the mirror in her bathroom and put the finishing touches on her makeup. The dress she and her grandmother had picked out was totally different than anything she would have ever chosen on her own, but she loved it. It was a floor length, lilac purple, empire waist dress that had beading on the bust and spaghetti straps. Since it was winter, they had also gotten a matching shawl. Abby didn't usually wear purple, but her grandmother was so enthused about the dress that she humored her and tried it on. Both of them had fallen in love with it the second she put it on and it fit like it had been custom made for her, so they bought it right then and there. It was the second dress she had tried on with her grandmother and the experience was the exact opposite of the one she had when she tried shopping with her father.

Abby came out of the bathroom and showed her grandmother the finished product. "You look beautiful little one," She said, choking up a little. Like her parents, Marie knew that her time with her granddaughter was somewhat limited since she was graduating from high school in a few short months. Even if she chose a DC school, which Marie fervently hoped she did, it wouldn't be the same; Abby wouldn't spend nearly as much time with the family and she wouldn't seek out her opinion and assistance as much. "Thank you for letting me be a part of this."

"A part of this?" Abby said, "Nonna, you were instrumental in this! Without you I would have been stuck with some hideous frock that my father picked out, and if you hadn't come over tonight my hair would have been a disaster. Thank _you_ for all of your help!"

"Anytime little one, any time," She said gently.

Abby and Marie walked down the stairs to where Dave was waiting. "Wow, you look beautiful Pumpkin," he said, a little in awe. "I don't think I've ever seen you wear purple before."

"That's because I usually don't, but Nonna thought this would look good on me, so I tried it on and, viola! Have you seen my shoes?" Abby was wearing heels to the banquet and she had left them on the first floor so she wouldn't have to navigate the stairs in them.

"I think they're in the study since that's where you showed them to me," he told her. He really wanted to tell her that if she had put the shoes away after she showed them to him, she wouldn't be looking for them right now, but he didn't want to start anything with her before she left.

"Thanks for your help with the dress Ma," he said. "While my daughter and I share many similarities, our taste in clothing is not one of them."

"It was my pleasure Davie," his mother said warmly. At that moment the front door flung open and JJ burst in.

"I didn't miss her, did I?" She asked. "I had to stay late in order to fill out some extra paperwork for the case!"

"You didn't miss anything Jen; Hotch and Jack aren't here yet." He was about to greet her properly when their daughter came back into the room.

"Mom!" Abby exclaimed as she ran over and gave her mother a big hug. "I missed you!"

"I missed you too honey," she said, returning the hug. Abby had her heels on and it was a little disconcerting to JJ that her daughter was taller than her in the shoes.

As she released her mother, her father stood next to her and it was also strange for him to be the same height as her. It made her seem older, and he wasn't ready for that yet.

"Purple, hmmm?" JJ wondered as she examined her daughter's dress.

"I know, it shocked the he- heck out of me too, but it works."

"It sure does," JJ agreed. "Thank you so much for helping her Marie."

"Nonsense Jennifer, I'm her grandmother, it's my job to help her," she said, waving away the thank you.

JJ was going to say more, but the doorbell rang. Dave went to open it, and in walked Hotch, Emily and Jack. Jack was wearing a dark suit with a red tie and polished shoes. It was almost scary the way he looked like a younger version of his father. If he could muster a 'Hotchner Glare,' he and his father would be able to pass as brothers.

"Hey Aaron, Emily," Dave greeted them. When Jack walked into the cabin, Dave clapped him on his back. "So you're the one taking my daughter out tonight?" He asked in a slightly menacing tone.

"Well, since she's driving, I think she's the one taking _me_ out," Jack told him.

"Dad, we're just going as friends; lay off," Abby told him with a warning in her voice. She had learned, over the past two years, that she couldn't stop her father from interrogating and terrorizing her actual dates, but this was Jack for Christ's sake, and it wasn't a real date. She wasn't going to have her father acting all protective tonight.

Dave caught the warning in her voice and decided to back off since it was only a 'friendship date.' "So how long is this banquet?"

"It should be done by eleven," Jack told him.

"So you kids won't have any problem making it back to the cabin by midnight?" Hotch asked.

"That should be fine dad," Jack said as he watched Abby search for her keys.

"Where in the hell are my keys?" Abby asked, frustrated.

Dave pulled them out from under a magazine on the coffee table. He handed them to her and then held out his hand, as if he was expecting something.

"What?" Abby asked.

"You owe a dollar to the swear jar."

She sighed and grabbed her purse. She pulled out a dollar bill, slapped it into her father's hand and then turned towards the door. Marie amusedly watched the exchange; if she had thought of a 'swear jar' when David had been a child, she would have saved herself many bars of Ivory soap.

"You can't leave yet, we need pictures!" JJ announced.

Both teenagers groaned at this. "She's right guys," Emily told them. "Garcia will _kill_ us if we don't have pictures to show her on Monday!"

Abby and Jack posed for picture after picture, while all five adults took snapshots. They were finally allowed to leave after many reminders about curfew and safe driving.

As the door closed behind them, both Abby and Jack let out simultaneous sighs of relief. "I never thought we'd get out of there!" Abby exclaimed.

"I know, you'd think we were going to the prom or something!" Jack said as he held the driver's side door open for Abby.

'That was weird,' she thought. 'Since when does Jack hold the door open for me?' She shrugged it off and soon they were on their way into the city.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 4

* * *

As Dave closed the door behind the two teenagers, Marie reached for her coat. "I've got to be going too Davie," she told him.

"Why don't you join us for dinner Mrs. Rossi?" Emily suggested.

The older woman shook her head, "No, I have plans for tonight, but you all have fun," she said. "And its Marie, not 'Mrs. Rossi'," she reminded Emily.

Dave and JJ walked her to the door, "Thanks again for your help with Abby this week Marie; I don't know what we would have done without you."

"It was my pleasure Jennifer, really. Any time I can spend with my goddaughter is a good time." With that, Marie stepped out onto the porch and made her way to her car. Once her car was out of sight, Dave closed the door and turned back to their guests.

"Help me in the kitchen Em?" Dave asked her, knowing that both JJ and Hotch were useless in the kitchen.

Emily nodded, got up from the sofa and followed Dave into the other room. JJ took her place on the couch and used the opportunity to lightly interrogate her friend and boss.

"So, you and Emily, huh?" She asked with a grin.

"What?" Hotch asked confused, then the light went on in his brain. "Oh, you mean us coming here together tonight?" JJ nodded. "We're just friends JJ, nothing more."

"But you'd like it to be something more, wouldn't you?"

Hotch considered lying for a moment, but he knew he owed JJ the truth. Besides, she might not technically be a profiler, but she could spot a lie from a mile away. "I would; Prentiss is a great person and we have a lot in common. If we didn't work together, if I wasn't her boss, I would probably ask her out."

"So? Don't let that stop you Hotch. If you really feel that way about her, you should ask her out and then deal with the fallout."

He shook his head, "I'm not sure _how_ I feel about her, and I don't want to jeopardize her career, or mine, just so we can date. What if it we went out and it didn't go anywhere?"

"Yeah, but-" Hotch interrupted her.

"Just let it go JJ." Hotch told her. Because she didn't want to argue with him, she did let it go, but she filed their conversation away in the back of her head. She had a feeling she would be bringing it back up at a later date.

While JJ and Hotch were discussing Hotch's love life in the living room, Dave and Emily were discussing hers in the kitchen.

"So, you and Hotch?" He asked with a grin as he stirred the tomato sauce his daughter had left him. "Now that I'm not at the BAU on a regular basis, I'm kinda out of the loop."

Emily rolled her eyes, "Trust me, there _is _no loop Rossi, Hotch and I are just friends."

"Sure, sure," he agreed. "Just like JJ and I were 'just friends'."

"Yeah, except unlike you and JJ, no one has to worry about walking in on us in the supply closet. Seriously Dave, there's nothing going on between Hotch and I," she told him, taking a sip of wine.

He stopped stirring and looked at her, "But that's not how you want it, right? You _want _there to be something going on between the two of you."

She sighed, "What I want doesn't matter, we can't be together. It's against the rules and you know Hotch, he's all about following the rules."

"Does he know how you feel?"

"What good would that do? Even if he felt the same way about me, there's nothing we can do about it," she said reiterated, draining her glass.

"What I know," Dave said as he refilled her glass, "Is that our boss has bent and broken the rules before in order to protect the team's well-being and happiness. If he knew how you felt, he might be willing to break them this time as well."

"Yeah, but what if he doesn't feel the same way? If I told him how I feel, it could seriously jeopardize our friendship, not to mention our working relationship.

"Trust me Em, he feels the same way. The guy's my best friend and I can read him like an open book," he told her.

"I'm still not willing to risk everything for a relationship that may or may not work. Sorry, I just don't have that much confidence." Dave opened his mouth to say something, but Emily decided to change the subject. "Besides, shouldn't you worry more about the blossoming romance between your daughter and godson?" She asked, with a smile.

"You see it too?" Emily nodded. "Thank God! Jen and Hotch keep telling me I'm crazy, that there's nothing there, but there _is_! I'm a world class profiler for Christ's sake, of course I can see the signs between the two of them!"

"I think JJ and Hotch are too close to the situation; they've seen Jack and Abby practically as brother and sister for the last seven years, whereas you and I are newcomers to the relationship. Our views aren't as skewed as theirs are."

"What do I do about it?" Dave asked her.

"What_ can_ you do about it?" She told him. "Have you ever tried telling a teenage girl that she can't do something? I guarantee that if you forbid her to date him, she'll do it anyway, but she'll do it behind your back. At least you know that Jack will treat her well."

"That's a small consolation," he grumbled as he set the sauce to simmer some more. After that, he picked up his wine glass and went back into the great room with Emily.

xxxxxxxxxx

Jack and Abby were having a great time at the banquet. They had arrived and gotten a table with some of their friends from the various sports teams, which made the mood at the table a festive one. He had won an award for his performance on the track team and when he went up to accept it, he got a standing ovation from his table; an ovation he knew Abby had started. When she won her awards for breaking numerous state records in swimming, he had returned the ovation, but also added some whistles. After that, they had eaten a great dinner and then the tables had been cleared to make room for a dance floor. They shared many dances, both fast and slow, and they were both having fun, but then they began to get thirsty. Abby plopped herself down on a chair while he went to get some punch for the both of them. On his way to get the drinks, his coach had stopped to talk to him, so it had taken him a little while to get the punch. After he filled the cups, he turned around from the punchbowl and saw Abby talking to Jeff Anderson. As he watched, he saw her laugh and then flirt with him.

'What the FUCK?' Jack thought angrily as he stomped over to the chairs they had been sitting in. He sat down and watched as his date and his competition talked and flirted. Ten minutes later, Jeff finally remembered that he had a date and left to go be with her and Abby returned to their chairs.

Up until that point, Jack had been feeling pretty good about him and Abby. He knew he felt something more for her than friendship and he had been wondering how to tell her. He had almost done it when they were slow dancing, but that moment just felt so…right with her in his arms that he didn't want to ruin it. He was also worried that she didn't feel the same way about him and he was afraid of messing up their current relationship by confessing his love for her.

Seeing her talk to that jackass Jeff had him seeing red. He couldn't believe the way she sat down next to him, as if nothing was wrong.

Taking a glass of punch from one of Jack's hands, Abby took a large drink. "Thanks Jack, that really hits the spot."

"Whatever," he said tightly. "I think this thing is about to end, we should get going."

Abby, noticing the change in Jack's demeanor, looked at her watch. "I guess you're right, it's almost eleven," she said. She grabbed her purse and shawl and they started towards the door. Their friends and coaches kept stopping to talk to them, so it took about fifteen minutes for them to get to Abby's car.

She unlocked the doors and they both got in. "So what's wrong Jack?"

"Nothing," he replied tersely.

The ride back to the cabin was a tense one. Whenever Abby tried talking to him, Jack gave her one word answers, iff he bothered to answer her at all. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he was mad at her, she just didn't know why. What she did know was that they couldn't go back to the cabin like this; the three profilers and her mother would be all over them with questions and they had to be able to answer them civilly.

As she approached the turn off to the cabin, she pulled over to the side of the road instead.

"So what the hell is up with you? You've been an asshole the whole way home!" She said loudly, turning in her seat so she was facing him.

"_I've _been an asshole?" He asked indignantly.

Abby nodded, "Yeah, you have and we need to fix this before we go in and face our parents."

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you practically made out with Jeff Anderson!"

"What?" She asked, confused. "Jeff and I were just talking, what's wrong with that?"

"If you had been at the banquet by yourself, it would have been fine, but you were there with me and you still went and flirted with him!" Jack had to walk a fine line; he didn't want to blurt out how he felt about her, but he wanted her to see how shitty her actions were tonight.

"But we were there as friends! It's not like you and I were on an actual date!" Abby said, defending herself.

"But it was still _rude_!" Jack saw that she was about to interrupt him, so he spoke a little louder. "If I had flirted with some girl tonight, would you have been pissed?"

That stopped Abby dead in her tracks; it _would _have pissed her off…no, it would have devastated her. At that moment, she finally understood what Jack was feeling. "You're right Jack, I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry."

Jack felt his anger melt away, "It's okay Abby, I know you didn't do it on purpose."

"No, but you're right, it _was_ rude and I shouldn't have done it." Abby meant what she said, she knew she shouldn't have flirted with Jeff the way that she had, hell she didn't even know _why_ she had flirted with him since she didn't even want to date him…the only person she wanted to date was sitting next to her. She didn't exactly know when her feelings toward Jack had changed, all she knew was that they had, and she wasn't sure what to do about them. On the one hand, she could tell him how she felt and hope he felt the same way, which she thought he did, and on the other hand, she could deny her feelings and just remain his good friend. She was confused, but she knew this was not the time or place to have that conversation.

"Look, you're right too, I was being an ass about it…let's just forget it, okay?"

"Kay," she agreed and then pulled back onto the road.

Once they arrived at the cabin, Jack got out and opened Abby's door for her again, which she still thought was strange. They walked up the porch steps and stopped in front of the door.

"Are we okay?" She asked him, wanting to make sure she hadn't screwed things up _too_ badly.

He nodded, "We are." And then without thinking, he bent down and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. He was encouraged that she didn't pull away and he ended the kiss after only a few seconds.

"What was _that_?" Abby asked breathlessly, as if they had been kissing for minutes instead of seconds.

"It just seemed like the right way to end the date. Was I wrong?" He asked, a bit nervously.

She shook her head and was about to say something, but at that moment the front door opened.

"I thought I heard you out here!" JJ said. "Well come in and tell us all about the banquet."

In a daze the teenagers recalled their night with their parents and Emily, but neither of their minds were on the event, they were both thinking about the kiss they had shared.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 5

* * *

JJ watched as her daughter sat at her desk and stared into space. It was Sunday evening and the three of them were in the study, working on various things. JJ was finishing up some press reports for the BAU's last case, Dave was trying to plunk out the next chapter of his book on his computer and Abby was attempting to study for her finals, which were coming up in just over a week…attempting being the key word in that sentence. JJ, who was not very motivated to complete her own work, had been watching her daughter for the last fifteen minutes and she knew that Abby hadn't turned a page in her book, she had been staring into space and she had been nibbling at her cuticles.

"Something on your mind honey?" She asked and her daughter didn't even look in her direction. "Abby." JJ said again, and Abby perked up.

"Sorry mom, what did you say?"

"I wondered if you had something on your mind, you seem a little unfocused right now."

Abby sighed, "Yeah, I'm stressing out about a couple of things right now."

"Anything we can help you with?" She asked.

Abby sighed again, "No, I kinda have to work this out on my own." God, if her mother only knew what she was thinking about! All Abby could think about was the kiss she had shared with Jack the previous night. What did it mean? Were they now girlfriend and boyfriend? How could that be when they never even talked about the change in their relationship? And had their relationship even changed? Was last night a one night thing? She had laid awake most of the night wondering about these things.

Dave set aside his laptop, "Are you sure Pumpkin? Your mom and I might be able to help."

"Thanks dad, but no, you really can't with this one," she told him. 'That's what I need,' Abby thought, 'I need dad to find out about this and then blow his top! God, he'd probably go over to Uncle Aaron's and kill Jack!'

Dave was about to ask her another question when they all heard the oven timer begin to beep. "That's dinner," he said and they all got up.

"I'm going to hit the bathroom before supper," Abby said, going up the stairs toward her bathroom.

"What do you think is eating at her?" Dave asked JJ as they walked to the kitchen.

"I don't know, do you think she's worried about her upcoming exams?" JJ asked him. Even if her daughter wasn't worried about her finals, JJ was; she was worried that Abby was beginning to let her school work slide a little. Over the past few weeks, she had hardly seen Abby crack a book to study, and when she did, it was for short amounts of time. In the past, Abby would have sequestered herself in her bedroom with her books and she would have only come out for school and meals. JJ had asked her daughter about her new study habits, but Abby reassured her that things were under control and she was confident she would still get the same wonderful grades she always had gotten. She told her that she had more free time during the school day to study and, as a result, she didn't have to study as hard at home. JJ trusted her daughter and didn't want to add to her pressures, so she took her word for it. JJ hoped that she and Dave wouldn't have a nasty surprise waiting for them once her report card came out.

"No, I think something happened last night. Both kids acted kind of weird when they got back to the cabin, and they weren't very forthcoming about answering some of our questions." Dave said.

JJ rolled her eyes; she knew where her husband was going with this. "_Nothing _is going on between her and Jack, David; you need to let it go."

"I'm telling you Jen-" He stopped abruptly as he heard footsteps approach the kitchen. He wanted to question Abby about her relationship with Jack, but he knew if he did, she would clam up tighter than Fort Knox security and then they would never know what was going on between the two of them. He was confident that once she was ready, she would talk to them…well, JJ…and they would finally get the story out of her. He knew he would have to be patient until then and, unfortunately, that was not one of his strengths.

The three of them helped themselves to Dave's famous 'Rosemary Chicken,' and then carried their plates into the great room to eat.

"So our family anniversary is coming up next weekend; did either of you give any thought as to where we should go?" Dave asked after a few minutes of silence at the table.

JJ smiled as her husband spoke. The upcoming Friday marked the second anniversary of their first family dinner; the first time they had come together as a family, even if their daughter hadn't been aware of it. Last year, since the anniversary had fallen on a weekday and they were all still coming down from the excitement of the Hawaiian wedding, all they had done was go back to the Italian restaurant to celebrate, and that was it. Dave, who was really gung ho about the family anniversary, or "famiversary" as Abby had nicknamed it, had vowed to make the upcoming famiversary a special one. At his insistence, they were going to get away from the cabin for a couple of days and he wanted them to celebrate in style.

"I was thinking we should go someplace warm," Abby said, dreaming of sunshine and sand beaches.

"That's a great idea Pumpkin, but I don't think we'll have enough time for that. We would eat up almost a full day with travelling alone," Dave told her.

Abby wasn't too upset that her suggestion had been shot down, she knew it was a long shot, but she was curious to hear her parent's suggestions. "What've you got dad?"

"I have a friend who owns a cabin on the ocean in Virginia Beach, I was thinking we could go there and spend a couple of days on the water."

"In January?" JJ asked, wrinkling her nose. "Isn't that going to be awfully wet and cold?"

"It might be, but the cabin is fairly secluded, so it will be peaceful," he told her.

"And that's different how?" Abby asked, looking out the giant windows of the four season room.

Dave glared at her for a split second, "Fine, I guess my idea is out the window too. JJ, how about you?"

"I thought we could spend the long weekend in New York. We could stay at the Waldorf Astoria, have a nice anniversary dinner on Friday night and then sightsee and watch a Broadway play on Saturday." She didn't add that the Waldorf had significance for their family; she was fairly certain that Abby had been conceived there, but she knew _that _story would creep the teenager out.

Dave thought for a minute, "That sounds like a great idea Jen. It's nearby so we won't waste much time travelling, and there's always something to do in New York. On Friday, we can have our anniversary dinner at San Domenico's and then on Saturday we can do all of the touristy crap before we go to a show. I'll call my publicist and have her get tickets for South Pacific, if that works for everyone?" He was excited at the thought of spending a weekend in New York with his girls.

JJ nodded, "South Pacific sounds good to me, how about you Abby?" Both JJ and Dave were so caught up in their own excitement that they hadn't been paying attention to Abby's reaction. As they turned their gazes upon her, they saw that she looked tense and she was picking at her food.

"Um, that sounds great mom, but could we do it in Philadelphia or something instead?" She asked a little nervously.

"No, not really. Philly doesn't have the restaurants or plays like New York. Why don't you want to go to New York?" Her mom asked curiously, she had never known her daughter to have a hang up about the city before.

"I just…don't. Instead of Philly, why don't we take the high speed train to Boston? There are cool things there."

"There are," JJ agreed, "But again, we won't be able to see any plays or anything. What's up with your sudden dislike of New York?"

"I don't hate the place…I just don't want to go, okay? God, you shot down dad's suggestion without interrogating him, why can't I veto yours without a cross-examination?"

"I had valid reasons for not wanting to go to the beach in January, but you've yet to give us one, so I'll ask again, what's with the sudden dislike for New York?" JJ asked, a little more forcefully this time.

Abby sighed, "I was in in New York with dad right before he left us that summer and I have some bad memories because of that, okay? _That's _why I don't want to go." She wasn't looking directly at her father, but out of the corner of her eye Abby could see a look of frustration mixed with anger on his face.

"You know I'm not going to leave you and your mother again, don't you Abby?" He asked tersely.

"I know, I just don't want to go back!" She said, still looking at her plate. Even almost two years later, she still wasn't quite sure what had happened on that trip that had made him leave them, but whatever it was, she didn't want it to happen again. It might be an irrational fear, but it was a very real one to her.

Seeing the look on her daughter's face and hearing the way her voice had gone up in pitch, JJ knew she was upset, so she stepped in. "We'll figure out somewhere else to go, okay?" She was relieved when Abby nodded, but she could see that her husband was still annoyed.

They ate the rest of their dinner in a strained silence. JJ tried to alleviate it by asking her husband and daughter questions about their upcoming weeks, but she got one syllable answers in return, and Abby spent most of the meal staring at her plate while she picked at her food.

As soon as everyone had taken their last bites, Dave stood up. "Can you two get the dishes tonight? I want to keep working on my book."

"Sure honey," JJ agreed. Dave gave her a sharp nod of thanks and then retreated to the study, closing the door behind him.

Abby and JJ brought the dinner dishes back to the kitchen and began cleaning up. "You know it's _really_ all right that we're not going to New York, don't you?" JJ said, trying to reassure her daughter.

"It's not, but thanks for trying to make me feel better," Abby said as she unloaded the dishwasher.

"It _is_," JJ affirmed, as she put the leftover food into containers. "We live on the eastern seaboard, we can go almost anywhere."

"Yeah but you and dad were really excited about New York. Not only that, I managed to totally piss dad off. I'll be lucky if he ever talks to me again."

"Your dad isn't pissed, he's just…frustrated."

"I know, but I can't help the way I feel mom," Abby said, with tears in her eyes. "If I had my way, I'd never go back to New York again, it just brings back too many memories." The tears spilled over, and she quickly wiped them away.

"I know that Abby and so does your dad, he's just frustrated because he knows that he hurt you badly by leaving the way he did. He's not mad at you, he's angry with himself."

"Whatever," She said, her disbelief evident in her tone. She quickly changed the subject, and as soon as the kitchen was clean, she escaped to her bedroom to study. A couple of hours later, she came back downstairs to say goodnight to her parents and she found her mother sitting alone in the great room.

"Is dad still fuming in the study?" She asked her mom as she sat down next to her on the sofa.

"He's still _working_ in there, I told you he's not angry with you." JJ said, setting her book down.

"Yeah, well I just came down to say goodnight."

"Good night honey," JJ said, kissing her on the forehead.

"Tell dad I said goodnight," Abby said, standing back up.

"You know, you _could _ go tell him yourself," her mom suggested.

"I think it's better if you tell him…he obviously doesn't want to see me right now," she said and then left the room. JJ heard her footsteps on the stairs and then she heard her door close. A few minutes later she heard Abby's shower turn on and she decided it was the perfect time to have a little chat with her husband.

She took a deep breath before she opened the door to the study. To her surprise, her husband looked up from his laptop in annoyance. "You couldn't have knocked?"

"I'm sorry, the last time I checked this was _our_ study…as in yours, mine and Abby's," she said, shutting the door behind her. "I didn't know it had reverted back to 'David's Inner Sanctuary.' Are you planning on hiding in here all night, or are you going to eventually come out and use your big boy words?" She asked.

Dave glared at her, "I'm not hiding…I'm thinking. I know I fucked up when I left you both and I know it left our daughter with some issues, but I honestly thought she was over it."

"She is Dave," she said, coming over to the desk. "These feelings are…well I don't know what they are, but I know she doesn't consciously think about them all of the time, they're triggered by memories, but you have to talk to her; she thinks you're mad at her."

"I'm not, I'm just irritated, but it's more at myself; I honestly don't think I'll ever forgive myself for walking out on the both of you."

"You should," she told him, moving from the desk to his lap, his arms automatically wrapping around her. "I forgave you a long time ago, and so did your daughter. The important thing is that you came back, and you came back soon after you left."

They sat in silence for a minute before JJ felt his grip tighten on her. "The Waldorf-Astoria, huh? You weren't planning on re-enacting a certain night there, were you Mrs. Rossi?" JJ could hear the grin in her husband's voice.

"Maybe I was…maybe I was thinking about a nice, big suite with our daughter's room at the end of a _very _long hallway," she said, turning so that she was straddling him on the chair. She could feel his approval of her plan through his jeans and she felt herself grow warmer at his touch. "Perhaps we should re-enact it right here?" She suggested as she pulled her long-sleeved t-shirt over her head.

"Except we promised our daughter we would limit our displays of affection to our bedroom," he groaned against her mouth as her hands unzipped him and found a _very _sensitive part of his anatomy.

"Our daughter just got into the shower and I locked the door to the study, so unless she kicks it in, she's not going to walk in on anything," she told him softly, as she moved her hands up to his flannel shirt and began unbuttoning it.

"Well hell woman! Why didn't you just tell me that in the first place?" He pulled the halves of his shirt apart, buttons flying everywhere, and then stood up with JJ's legs wrapped around him. He set her on the desk, and soon after, they engaged in a very sensual display of affection.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 6

* * *

Two hours later, Dave was walking down the hallway towards the master bedroom when he noticed light spilling out from under his daughter's door. He was surprised that she was still awake since it was nearly one in the morning and she had school the next day. Frowning, he knocked on her door.

Abby was startled by the knock on her door; she thought her parents had gone to sleep hours ago. "Come in," she called out, sitting up in her bed. She was even more surprised to see her father walk through her door, since he was mad at her.

"Dad! What's up?" She asked, setting her book aside.

"You're up kinda late, aren't you Pumpkin?" He asked as he crossed the room and sat down on the edge of her bed.

Abby nodded, "I am, but I couldn't sleep."

Dave thought about that for a second, "Your mom says you think I'm pissed at you about the whole New York thing, but I'm not, I'm pissed at myself. I'm angry for pain I caused you when I left and I'm angry that I caused you to have so many issues, but I'm NOT angry with you, got it?" He was surprised to see her shake her head.

"If you aren't mad at me, why wouldn't you talk to me at dinner?" She asked a little hurt.

"Okay, so maybe I was a little annoyed that you still have some trust issues with me, but I was never mad at you," he said, trying to reassure her.

"I don't have trust issues with you; I know you're not going to leave us again, I just…I don't know, I guess it's just an irrational fear; I'm afraid if we go back to New York, you'll flip out again and leave. It's stupid, I know…let's just go to New York for the famiversary, you and mom both really want to go and I'll get over my stupid fear," she said, picking at her bedspread.

"Hey," he said firmly, which caused her to look up at him. "First of all, your fear isn't stupid, it's real to you. Second, we're not going to go someplace that is going to make you uncomfortable; if you don't want to go to New York, we're not going to go. End of story. We'll go to Philadelphia instead; we can stay at the Rittenhouse and eat at Vetri's. Besides, there's _tons _of touristy crap to see in Philly and your mom will be in her glory because most of it is also educational." While Dave and Abby were perfectly content with doing all of the touristy stuff in the cities they visited while on vacation, JJ always tried to add an educational element to their trips, but she usually failed. Since many of Philadelphia's tourist attractions were historical ones, the educational component would be ever-present on their trip.

Abby smiled at him, "Thanks dad."

He pulled her into a gentle hug, "Anything for you honey," he said as he released her. "Now that that's settled, I think it's time to turn off your light, don't you?"

She nodded and lay back down in her bed, "'Night dad."

"Goodnight Pumpkin," he said as he turned out the light and left the room.

Abby, feeling relieved, fell asleep two minutes later.

xxxxxxxxxx

Three days later, she was at the BAU looking for Garcia. She finally found her in the break room, refilling her flowery coffee mug.

"Abby! Long time, no see!" She squealed, pulling the teen into a bear hug.

"Hi Pen!" Abby managed to squeak out through the fierce hug. Once Garcia let her go, she took a deep breath to refill her empty lungs. "Wow, are you sure you're not some long lost relative of my dad's? You could give Nonna a run for her money for her bone crushing hugs."

Garcia grinned, "Speaking of your father, I'm guessing you're here to pick up the files he asked for?" Abby nodded and they made their way towards Garcia's electronic lair. Once there, Pen handed her a sheaf of papers and then took a big gulp of her coffee. "Hey, thanks again for supplying me with the good stuff for when the team is out of town," she said, pointing to her mug. The rest of the team was on a case in West Virginia, so she had decided to make the flavored coffee. She knew that if the team had been there, she would have gotten about half a cup of the brew before the thirsty profilers descended upon it.

"No problem Pen, I might not work at Jovial Java anymore, but I still have connections there."

"Would your connection be one Jack Hotchner?" Garcia asked and was surprised when a look of apprehension came over her young friend's face. "So what's going on with you and Jack?"

"What do you mean?" Abby asked in what she hoped was a casual voice. It wasn't and Garcia's curiosity became further piqued.

"Well, when I mentioned Jack's name, you turned red and a look of confusion and anxiety came over your face. What happened?" She asked as she pushed open the door to her office.

"Nothing happened, everything's fine," Abby said quickly…MUCH too quickly for Garcia's tastes.

"Okay Abby, out with it. What exactly is going on between you and Jack?" Penelope asked, practically drooling by this point.

Abby sat down in one of the chairs and thought for a minute; she had been wanting to talk to someone about this for a while now and maybe Garcia was her best option. She didn't want to talk to her mom about it, for fear that she would be against her and Jack dating, her grandmother wanted the two of them to get together, so her advice would be useless, and her best girlfriend Becca already had a boyfriend and wanted Abby to have one too so they could double date, so her advice wouldn't exactly be unbiased. 'What the hell, I've gotta tell _someone_,' she thought as she took a deep breath.

"I'm in love with Jack Hotchner!" She blurted out. God it felt good to say it, but she was surprised that she used the word 'love' in her admission.

Penelope was as close to speechless as she had ever been; like Dave and Emily, she could tell that something had changed between Jack and Abby, but she didn't know it ran this deep. "Holy crap! Really?"

Abby nodded, "Really, but I don't know if he feels the same way about me."

"Has he said anything to you? Has his behavior towards you changed in any way?" Penelope asked.

"Um…well…he kinda kissed me after our date on Saturday," Abby admitted.

"WHAT!" The tech practically shouted. She lowered her voice to a normal level to ask her next question, "So how was it?" She asked with a grin.

"Pen!" Abby exclaimed, turning red. "It was good…it was wonderful!" She said, thinking back to that night. "He also got really mad when I flirted with another guy at the banquet, even though we were there just as friends."

"Then he's got to feel the same way about you," Penelope told her. "So what did he say about the kiss when you two saw each other at school on Monday?"

"That's just it," Abby practically wailed, "He didn't say _anything_! We saw each other in the cafeteria and it was as if nothing ever happened! What if he doesn't feel the same way about the kiss as I do? What if that was just his normal way to end a date?"

"You have to talk to him about it, you have to find out if his feelings have changed towards you as well," Garcia told her.

Abby sighed; she had hoped Penelope would have some magical answer for her that _didn't_ involve talking to Jack. "I know I do, but I'm scared…if he doesn't feel the same way, it could change our entire relationship…I could end up losing my best friend."

"You could, but it's a risk you've got to take, you relationship has already been changed by your feelings for him. You've got to know whether he feels the same way about you…for what it's worth, I think he's in love with you too," she told the teen. "I've seen the way he looks at you, and it's not in a brotherly way. I would say that Jack Hotchner is just as smitten with you as you are with him."

Smiling, Abby stood up. "Thanks for the advice Pen. I'm not sure if I'll follow any of it, but it helps."

"Any time, my love," Garcia told her.

"And it goes without saying that you'll keep this conversation to yourself, right?" Abby asked.

Penelope looked offended, "Just who do you think I would tell?"

"Who _wouldn't _you tell?" Abby said. "You tell Derek everything, you're best friends with my mother and you've gotten pretty chummy with my father lately. Just promise me you won't tell _anyone_ about our conversation."

"I promise," she said, crossing her heart. She watched as the teenager walked out of her office and then turned around to work on some background checks.

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Half an hour later, Penelope was in the empty bullpen dropping a file off on Reid's desk when she noticed movement in her unit chief's office. Wondering who was in the office, since Hotch was in West Virginia, Garcia went to investigate. She was surprised to find a younger version of her unit chief rifling through some papers on his desk.

"Jack!" Garcia said, with a smile on her face.

The teenager jumped and then spun around, "Garcia! Jesus, you scared the hell out of me!"

"What are you doing here?" She asked, wondering if his father knew he was making a mess out of the papers on his desk.

"Dad signed a permission slip for me before he left for West Virginia, but he forgot to drop it off at school and I need it by tomorrow. I called him and he told me it was on his desk, but I don't see it. Can you help me find it?" He asked, continuing to rifle through the papers. Garcia nodded and helped him look. Two minutes later they found it and Jack turned to leave.

"You just missed Abby, she was here about half an hour ago." Garcia was waiting to see his reaction and she wasn't disappointed.

"Oh?" Jack asked, dropping the permission slip as he turned red.

"Out with it Jack. I may not be a profiler, but I can tell when something is up," she told him.

He hesitated, "You won't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you, right?"

For the second time in an hour, Penelope crossed her heart, "I swear."

"I think I love Abby!" He exclaimed. Garcia just stared at him open-mouthed. Now that she had confirmation of his mutual feelings, she knew she would have to play it cool in order to not reveal what Abby had told her. What she really wanted to do was lock the two in the supply closet for an hour, but she didn't think that Hotch, JJ or Dave would appreciate that.

She stood speechless for another ten seconds before her brain started functioning again. She walked back to Hotch's desk and opened one of the drawers. "We are _definitely_ going to need cookies for a conversation like this," she said, pulling out a bag of Oreo's.

"Wait, my dad had Oreo's stashed in his desk?"

Pen nodded, "Yeah, your dad is a closet junk food addict. The number of times he's walked into our briefings with cookie crumbs on his tie…well, let's just say he owes me, he owes me big time."

"But he _never_ keeps stuff like that in the house and he never lets me eat it!" Jack tried to wrap his head around the fact that his father liked junk food and couldn't. He took a deep breath and decided to focus on one problem at a time. He followed Garcia over to the sofa, sat down and helped himself to a couple of cookies.

"So you're in love with Abby?" Garcia asked gently.

Jack nodded, "I think so, but I don't know what to do about it."

"You have to tell her," Penelope advised. "You need to see if she feels the same way as you do." What she really wanted to do was jump up and squeal that Abby loved him too, but she knew the kids had to do this on their own.

"But what if she doesn't? I could end up losing my best friend over this."

"Or you could gain a girlfriend from this. Look Jack, I can tell just by watching the two of you that something has changed. I think she feels the same way about you, but you'll never know if you don't talk to her about it." That was as close as she was willing to come to telling the boy how Abby felt about him.

"I'm scared Penelope, what if I'm making the wrong choice by telling her? Maybe I should leave things the way they are, we have a good thing going." He had pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket while talking to Garcia and he was staring at it.

"What's this?" She asked, taking the paper from his hand. "A pro/con list? You made a pro/con list to help you decide whether or not you should tell Abby that you love her?" Jack nodded. "You really are your father's son," she murmured, looking at the list. "You have many more pros than you do cons on this list. I think you should talk to her."

He nodded. "You're right," he said, finally coming to a decision. "I'll talk to her about it, but it won't be for a little while." Garcia started to interrupt, thinking Jack was trying to delay the discussion, but he plowed ahead with his explanation. "She's going to Philly this weekend with her parents for their family anniversary, and then the next week is finals and I don't want to put this on her during that time."

Garcia thought about his reasons and nodded, "What about the weekend after finals? It would make a nice celebration for the both of you."

"You're right, it would; I'll talk to her about it then, okay?" He said as he stood and grabbed a few more Oreo's for the road.

Penelope stood as well, "Sounds like a plan Jack. Good luck!" She said, giving him a hug.

"Thanks, I'll need it…and thanks for listening Garcia," he said with a smile. Watching the teenager leave and remembering the conversation she had with both him and Abby, Garcia was glad she was past the age of teenage romances.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 7

**~I've had a horrendous couple of days, which is bad for me but apparently good for my muse, as it came out of hiding and hit me full force. As a result, the next couple of chapters are pretty much written, all I have to do is polish them up a little...enough reviews may motivate me to post the next chapter today instead of waiting until tomorrow...**

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David Rossi was not a happy man. He was used to getting what he wanted, when he wanted it and right now the hapless hotel desk clerk was not giving him what he wanted.

"I'm sorry sir, but we have you down for one room," she told him, looking at her computer screen for the millionth time.

Dave was not known for having an abundance of patience, and the little he had was hanging by a thread. "I _know_ you have me down for one room, you've told me the same thing the previous five times you looked at that computer. What I'm telling _you_ is that I booked a two bedroom suite and I want a two bedroom suite." He watched as the clerk looked down at her computer screen once more and he knew that if she responded with the same answer again, he may very well pull his weapon. "Look," he said through clenched teeth, "Is there someone else I can talk to about this? A supervisor perhaps?"

Looking relieved, the young girl nodded, "Yes sir, one moment." She left the desk and went over to the concierge desk. After a short consultation with him, the concierge nodded, looked at _his _computer and then came over to where Dave was standing.

"I'm terribly sorry sir, but it seems there was a mix up with your reservation. We have you down for one room with two beds instead of two bedrooms. My apologies sir."

Happy that he was finally getting somewhere, Dave smiled, "No problem, mistakes happen. Can I get the keys to our suite now? We drove up from DC and we want to go out and grab some dinner." Dave had wanted to leave the previous night, instead of waiting until Friday at rush hour to brave the traffic to Philly, but JJ had meetings she couldn't postpone and it was the last day of school before Abby's finals, so it wasn't feasible to get to the city any earlier. Because of the traffic, what was normally a three hour drive had turned into a four and a half hour drive, and the three of them were tired and hungry.

"Again, I'm sorry sir but we are completely sold out, all we have left is the one room."

"You're shitting me, right? A world class hotel like this can't even get their reservations straight?" Dave said loudly.

"I'm sorry sir-" Dave interrupted him. "Save your sorry's buddy, we'll just stay elsewhere."

"Well that certainly _is _an option sir, but I'm afraid that all of the hotels of this caliber are completely booked up for the weekend." The concierge told him, a little fearful for his life.

"WHAT?" Dave bellowed.

"Yes sir, there is a large gala benefiting pediatric leukemia research taking place nearby tomorrow evening, and everything is completely booked."

Intervening before her husband had a stroke, JJ approached the two men. "The one room will be fine for the weekend," she said as she took the keys from the concierge. "Really David, it's not a big deal, it might get a little cramped, but we'll survive." Nodding a thank you to the concierge, she took Dave's hand and pulled him to the elevator. Abby followed behind them, still in awe of the fancy lobby of the hotel. Other than when she stayed with her father at a swanky hotel in New York, she had mainly stayed at Super 8's and Holiday Inn's when she traveled with her mother.

The elevator whisked the family to the fourth floor, and a long hallway led them to their room. Dave opened the door and was nearly bowled over by his daughter, who wanted to check everything out.

"God, this room is gorgeous!" She exclaimed, laying down on one of the beds. The bedding was as soft as she had ever felt, and it was a luxurious gold color. As Dave and JJ stepped into the room, Dave groaned when he saw how small it was.

"It's tiny!" He whined, "We'll be tripping all over each other."

"Now honey, it's not that bad, " JJ said, trying to soothe him. "Just pretend we're back at the apartment," she said as their daughter went to check out the bathroom.

Grabbing his wife around the waist, Dave pulled her close to him and growled, "I'd rather pretend we're back in your dorm room."

"Unfortunately that is one activity that is off the menu for this weekend David," JJ said sadly.

"Oh, I think we can get our daughter out of the room for an hour or so," he said with a twinkle in his eye.

Abby came out of the bathroom to find her parents in each other's arms and just rolled her eyes. "Are we going to get some dinner or what?"

xxxxxxxxxx

The next day, after a long morning spent taking turns in the shower and bathroom, the family set out to sightsee. To JJ's delight, most of the things they saw _did_ have an educational component, but it didn't bore her husband and daughter. In the morning they went to Independence Hall, they saw and took many pictures of the Liberty Bell, they visited Benjamin Franklin's grave and they explored the National Constitution Center. After a lunch of authentic Philly Cheese Steaks at Geno's, the three of them went to the Rodin museum for JJ and then they went to the Museum of Art so that Dave could see and run up the steps from the Rocky movies. Once he got to the top of the seventy-two stairs, he thought he'd need CPR, but it had been worth it. After that, they wandered around downtown Philly before returning to their hotel at around five that evening.

Once they got to the room, the three of them practically collapsed on the beds. "I'm _so_ tired," Abby moaned.

"I hear you Pumpkin, we must have walked ten miles today," Dave said from the bed he was sharing with JJ. His wife was practically asleep next to him. "Our dinner reservations are for seven-thirty, so why don't we all take a nap until then, unless you want to study?" He was a little worried since Abby's semester finals began in less than two days and he hadn't seen her crack a book all weekend.

Abby turned on her side to face him, "Forget studying, I'm taking a nap," she said sleepily. And for an hour, that's exactly what the three of them did.

Four and a half hours later, the three of them were finishing their meal at Vetri's and they were reminiscing about their first dinner together as a family.

"At first I thought you were a little creepy," Abby told her father, "The way you kept watching me was a little weird, but then again, I didn't know who you really were, I thought you were just one of mom's co-workers. Thankfully you'd brought me a CD when you first arrived, so I focused on that more than your staring."

He laughed, "Yeah, well I was still reeling from finding out that I had a fifteen year old daughter, so sue me for being a little weird."

"God Abby, you should have seen his face when he found out about you!" Her mom exclaimed, "It is one of the few times I've ever seen your father truly speechless!" The three of them laughed as if it was the first time hearing these stories, even though they had been told numerous times before.

"She should have seen _your _face when Hotch first re-introduced us! I though you were going to drop your files right there in his-" Dave's eye caught someone across the room and his train of thought derailed. "Shit," he said as the object of his attention began making her way across the restaurant towards their table.

"Dave?" JJ asked, confused. "Are you okay?"

He smiled tightly, his eyes still on the quickly approaching woman. "I'm sorry; I'm so, so sorry for what's about to happen."

"What are you-" JJ never got to finish her sentence.

"David! How wonderful to see you again!" JJ watched as a woman, who looked to be in her mid-forties, bent down and kissed her husband on the cheek. She lingered a little too long on the kiss for JJ's taste.

"Suzette," Dave said, curtly. He frowned as the woman took an empty chair from a nearby table and pulled it up to theirs. "Jennifer, Abby, meet Suzette McNeil, my second wife."


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 8

**~Wow, thanks for all of the reviews! Since this is a new story, I really appreciate the input. As promised, here's chapter 8!**

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JJ's and Abby's eyes grew wide when they learned the identity of the woman, but their impeccable manners automatically took over. "It's nice to meet you Ms. McNeil, I'm Jennifer Rossi and this is our daughter, Abby." Abby smiled politely at the woman and JJ held out her hand for a handshake, but Suzette just gave her a fake smile and turned back to her ex-husband.

"I heard the most bizarre rumor about you Dave; I heard you retired from the FBI again. Is that true?" She asked, sounding amazed.

"Not exactly Suzette. What are you doing here?" He asked her, wondering why the fates hated him as much as they did. What were the odds that his second wife would show up at the exact same restaurant that he and his girls were at.

"I'm in town for the pediatric leukemia benefit and I decided to eat at Vetri's while I was here. Don't tell me you're surprised by that! Why David Rossi, you're the one who turned me on to this restaurant in the first place!" Fuck, he had forgotten about that. He knew the two women in his life were _not _going to be happy that he took them to a restaurant that he had also taken his previous wives to.

Abby, who was intrigued by the woman from her father's past, wanted to find out more about her. "So what do you do, Ms. McNeil?" She asked politely.

Suzette turned her gaze upon the teenager, "Do?"

"For a job," Abby clarified.

"Oh, that's adorable, really it is," she said condescendingly, "I don't _do _anything sweetheart, I'm not one of those working women who needs to have a career in order to feel fulfilled." She glanced at JJ when she said this and both she and Abby got the message.

Dave mentally groaned; the situation was rapidly going from bad to worse. He knew that Abby had inherited the 'Rossi temper' and she _hated _it when adults were condescending to her. He also realized that JJ, as a protective mama bear, would never put up with Suzette's attitude towards her daughter, not to mention that the woman had insulted her status as a career woman. Abby's temper was one thing, she could create a scene, but he knew JJ could put on an entire Broadway show with her temper.

"Well it was nice seeing you again Suzette," Dave lied, trying to get rid of her, but the woman had no plans to leave until she sunk her claws into the happy family.

"What do you mean you didn't _exactly_ retire from the bureau David? Either you did or you didn't," Suzette told him, a bit worried about her alimony.

"Right now I'm a consultant for the BAU; I decided I wanted to be home more to help take care of our daughter." He gave Abby a loving look as he said this, which Suzette did not miss.

She gave a patronizing laugh, "My God, David Rossi has turned into Mr. Mom! It's mind boggling that you would want to stay at home with this…this…child… when you could be out doing so much more! I have to admit, when I heard you were a father, a part of me was a bit shocked. You know, since the reason we never had kids was because you didn't want any."

Dave saw a look of confusion and hurt come over his daughter's face, and he had to remind himself of the cardinal rule his father taught him when he was a teenager: never hit a woman. "_No, _I said I didn't want kids with _you_, I never ruled out having kids in general."

"Semantics Dave. All I know is the David Rossi _I_ knew would pay to have his child taken care of; he wouldn't give up his life to do it himself." Suzette wanted to draw blood before she left, so she kept going with her diatribe. "I see you picked a blond this time," she said, turning her attention toward JJ. "A word of advice dear, he tires of his wives quickly, I would invest in some hair dye, that way he might keep you around for more than a few years, although once your figure goes, he'll kick you to the curb."

Dave heard JJ gasp in outrage and knew the situation would turn ugly, and possibly violent, if he didn't do something right away, but he didn't react in time to stop JJ from speaking her mind.

"Listen lady, and I use the word 'lady' loosely," she said lethally, "I don't know who in the hell you think you are, but nobody and I mean _nobody _talks to my husband or daughter that way. And as for David getting tired of me? Well, unlike _some _women, I know how to keep my man satisfied, and I don't need silicone body parts to do it with. Take a good look honey, this is all real and it's all spectacular," JJ told her, running her hands down the sides of her body. "If David lives to be a hundred and twenty, I'll be around to make sure he's satisfied on every one of those days." As she sat back, she saw that both her husband and daughter were gaping at her in shock.

"All right Suzette, I think you're done here," Dave said when he finally found his voice, but the vixen still had no intention of leaving.

Ignoring JJ's not so veiled threat, Suzette continued spewing her vitriol. "I can't imagine you're satisfied by playing house with your little family, Dave. Sure, the new wife is a nice young toy, but you as a father? To a teenager? Please!" She was giggling at this point.

Abby turned to JJ and said, loud enough for the table to hear, "Wow mom, I can't_ imagine _why dad didn't want to have kids with her, she seems like such a caring nurturer." A deaf person could have heard the sarcasm dripping from her words.

"That's it Suzette, leave now!" Dave growled, getting ready to pounce. He didn't want his daughter to get pulled into this any more than she already had. But Suzette saved her best shot for last.

"Come now David, don't you get a little bored being a family man? Where's the passion? The spark? Remember the couple of weeks we spent together those two summers ago? Now that was passion! I thought you would drive me crazy by the end of our time together. God, the way you would-"

"That's it!" Dave said, rising from his chair; he was long past the point of caring about making a scene. He gripped his ex-wife's arm in a vice grip, pulled her to her feet and walked her across the restaurant. He propelled her out the front door, and once they were on the sidewalk, he spun her around to face him.

"This time you've gone too far Suzette! I can put up with the rumors you start about me, I can deal with the fact that you pay people to negatively review my books online, I can take it when you turn your wrath on me, but when you fuck with my family? That's my line!" Still gripping her arm, he stood as close to her as he could and stared down into her deep, brown eyes. "I am going to tell you this only once: stay the hell away from me and my family. I swear to God Suze, if you _ever_ talk to my wife or daughter like that again, or if you ever tell them lies about me like you did just now in an attempt to break us up, I will cut your alimony so fast, your head will spin like a fucking top!" Instead of shouting, Dave spoke these words slowly and clearly so she knew that he was serious.

Suzette gasped, "You wouldn't!"

"Try me," he growled, knowing he was hitting her where she lived. The reason she didn't have a job was because she didn't need one. He took care of all three of his ex-wives, and they lived lives of leisure for the most part.

"If you do that, I'll just drag you back to court," she threatened.

He gave a sharp bark of laughter, "You do that Suze! The judge in our divorce proceedings thought I was nuts for giving you as much alimony as I do! He actually took me aside during one of the recesses and asked me if I was sure I knew what I was doing. I've been generous and tolerant of you in the past, but I will cut you off in a heartbeat if you ever even _think _about my family again. Capice?"

"Fine!" She yelled, jerking her arm from his grip. "I don't get it Dave, what does she give you that I couldn't?"

"Love, unconditional love. Jennifer loves me through the good times and bad, she loves me when I'm a wonderful husband and when I'm an ass to her. She would love me if I was a pauper and she doesn't need pretty trinkets from me to prove my love to her, she just knows it's there, just like I know she loves me. She also gave me a daughter, which is the best thing anyone has ever given me. We're happy Suzette, so just leave us alone," he ordered firmly.

"Fine David, I will never darken your doorstep again," she spat. She gave him one last glare and then turned on her heel and stalked off.

Dave knew it wouldn't be the last he saw of his ex-wife, but he had other things to focus on at the moment, like what he would be going back into with his wife and daughter. He took a deep breath, walked back into the restaurant and stopped at his table. To his surprise, the two women at the table didn't look angry, instead they looked somewhat…amused? He sat back down in his seat, took a long drink of water and then started in with the explanations.

"I swear I never cheated on you with Suzette, Jen. I swear it on my father's grave. I may have gone off the rails when I left you that summer, but I _never_ got together with Suzette, or any woman for that matter." He was almost afraid to look up at her, for fear she wouldn't believe him. Thankfully, when he finally _did _look up at her, he saw understanding in her eyes.

"I know that David; did you actually think I would believe that…that…harlot over you? When we got back together, you told me there hadn't been anyone else and I trust you." He let out a sigh of relief when she said this, and when he saw his daughter nodding her agreement.

"And Pumpkin, it isn't that I didn't want kids, I just didn't want them with _her_. You understand the difference, right?"

"Duh dad, of course I do. I can't imagine anyone who _would _want to have kids with her," Abby told him.

Dave, grateful that the two most important people to him on the planet believed him and trusted him, let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. The three of them sat in silence for a minute until Abby broke it.

"God dad, you really know how to pick 'em. Was she as bat shit crazy when you married her?" She asked.

JJ didn't rebuke her for swearing; it was an apt description of the woman's demeanor. Plus, she was interested in the answer.

"Unfortunately yes, but she didn't show it in earnest until after the wedding ceremony. Maybe that's why the marriage only lasted two years," he said, shrugging.

"Well if that was wife number two, I can't wait to meet wife number three!" She exclaimed.

Dave mentally shook his head; that was _never _going to happen. Abby didn't need to know that his most recent ex-wife had moved to Paris to become a stripper. She didn't need the money from it, since he took care of her just as well as he did his other ex-wives, but was instead doing it for the experience. Needless to say, he and his third wife did not have a lot in common, and that marriage had lasted all of eight months.

Slowly the mood at the table returned to the happy one it had been before they had been so rudely interrupted, and by the time they finished their desserts, they were laughing again.

Once back at the hotel, Dave took a quick shower and came back out to the hotel room to find that the girls had changed into their pajamas and had passed out on Abby's bed while watching TV. Abby stirred as she heard her dad enter the room.

"I'll move to the other bed so you can share with mom," she mumbled sleepily as she sat up.

"No, go back to bed honey; I'll sleep in the other bed." He crossed the room and helped his daughter lay back down in the bed. Once that was accomplished, he pulled the covers over both of them, turned off the TV and went over to the other bed. He got in and was just about to turn the lamp off, when he heard Abby mumble, "This was a great famiversary dad, thanks."

He smiled, "I'm glad you had fun Pumpkin, now go to sleep."

"Kay, love you."

"I love you too Abby," he said as he flicked off the lamp. As he waited for sleep to come, Dave said a prayer of thanks to the fates above for bringing them together as a family.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 9

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"So what's on the agenda for tomorrow Pumpkin?" Dave asked as he took a bite of chicken. It was the Thursday after the trip to Philadelphia, and Abby was in the middle of her semester finals, while Dave was struggling to overcome some writer's block he was having with his newest manuscript.

She thought for a minute, "My last final is at ten tomorrow morning, so I should be done by eleven-thirty. I want to hang out in the commons to talk with some of my friends, so I should be ready to go by about twelve-thirty." Dave was driving her to school the following day, partly because he knew she was tired from the stress of finals and he didn't want her driving herself, and partly because he wanted to take her out to lunch to celebrate afterwards. JJ had planned on going with them, but she was on a case in Iowa.

"Sounds good, I'll meet you out front at twelve-thirty then," he told her. "What are your plans for the rest of the day?"

"After lunch, I'll come back here and crash for a couple of hours, and then I'm going out with Jack," she said nonchalantly as she stabbed a forkful of salad.

Dave's teenage romance radar went on full alert, "Oh really? What are you two going to do?" He was also trying to sound casual about the whole thing, but he wasn't too nervous since he could tell that the two teenagers weren't romantically involved…yet. He hoped when the time came where they began to get serious about each other, and he knew it was a 'when' and not an 'if,' she would tell them about it.

"I don't know, mug a couple of little old ladies, knock over a convenience store or two, cause general mayhem...you know, the usual Friday night stuff."

"Funny girl," Dave said, with a smile on his face.

"Seriously though, I'm not sure what we're going to do. We'll probably grab a bite to eat and then go see a movie or something." Abby was telling him the truth, but just barely. Jack had asked her if she wanted to go to dinner the following night because he 'wanted to talk to her.' Abby wasn't totally sure what that meant, but she hoped it had to do with the kiss they shared a few weeks ago.

Dave wanted to ask her more about her non-date with Jack, but at that moment JJ called and they put her on speakerphone while they finished their dinner.

xxxxxxxxxx

The next day, Dave was working on his manuscript when his cell phone rang.

"Rossi," he answered.

"Mr. Rossi, this is Mary Jackson calling from Edmund Burke."

Dave's eyebrows knitted together, "What can I do for you Ms. Jackson?"

"I work in the principal's office, Mr. Rossi, and there's been an incident involving your daughter. Principal Greene requests your presence at the school as soon as possible."

"Is she alright?" Dave asked, his voice going up an octave as he thought back to the phone call he received telling him that his daughter had been involved in a diving accident.

"Yes sir, she's fine. When can I tell Principal Greene to expect you?" She asked, not realizing the fear she had instilled in Dave's heart.

He glanced at his watch and it read eleven forty-five. "I can be there by twelve-fifteen."

"All right, I will let her know. Good day."

Twenty-five minutes later, Dave walked into the general office of his daughter's high school and found her sitting on a bench outside of the principal's office. He could tell from across the room that she was absolutely livid. Her body was tense, her lips were tight, she was glaring at the floor and she looked like she was just barely holding on to her temper. Dave swore that if he looked closely enough, he could see sparks shooting off of her. He knew the only thing that was holding her temper in check was the fact she was in school and she knew she had to be respectful; if they had been at home, Dave had no doubt that objects would be flying by this point. He crossed the room and sat down next to her.

Abby looked up when she felt him sit down. "Dad!" She exclaimed, sounding relieved. Finally, someone was there who would be on her side!

"You wanna give me a heads up as to what this is about before we go in there?" He asked, gesturing at the closed office door.

She opened her mouth to speak, but at that moment the door opened and Principal Greene stepped out. "Mr. Rossi?" She asked as Dave stood up and nodded.

"Melinda Greene," she said, extending her hand, which Dave shook. "I'm the principal here at Edmund Burke. Will you please come into my office? You too Abby."

Dave let the two women enter the room first and then stepped in behind them. To his surprise, Abby's Literature teacher was already in the office, seated at the small conference table in the corner of the room. "Mr. Linde," Dave said as he passed by the man to sit in one of the empty seats next to his daughter.

"Mr. Rossi," the teacher nodded back; the two men had met at the last parent/teacher conference and Dave hadn't been impressed by the man.

Principal Greene sat down and began the discussion. "Mr. Rossi, there's been an unfortunate incident involving Abigail. After her Shakespearian Literature exam yesterday, Mr. Linde was tidying up the room and found this on the floor under your daughter's desk." She passed a piece of paper to him, which he examined. It was very clearly a cheat sheet for the exam.

"As you can see, there are detailed notes about the material on the exam. Also, while the font is rather small, it is also a rather unique font, and that type of font is used by only one student in the class, and that student is your daughter," Principal Greene told him. He studied it and also recognized the font; Abby had once told him that it was the easiest font for her to read when was studying with a migraine.

Abby spoke up, "I'm sorry, but isn't it possible that the Microsoft Corporation, in its infinite wisdom, may have put the Courier New font into more Word programs than just mine? _Anyone_ could have used that font!"

"Yes Abby, anyone _could_ have used that font, but when we compare the notes on the cheat sheet to the notes you've turned in during the semester, it becomes pretty obvious that these are your notes!" Principal Greene's voice was becoming steadily louder, but Abby matched her decibel level.

"And I've loaned my notes out to at least four people in that class! Any one of them could have made this sheet, ma'am!" Abby tacked the last part onto the end in hopes that Mrs. Greene and her father would not think she was being disrespectful.

"What else do you have?" Dave asked quietly.

"I'm sorry?" Principal Greene asked him.

"I'm wondering what else makes you think my daughter cheated on this exam, because I know you wouldn't bring me in here and put my daughter through this if you only had font and linguistics to go by." Dave said this calmly, but inside he was in turmoil, he didn't want to believe that his daughter had cheated on the test, but her lack of studying combined with her hatred of the subject made it hard for him to deny the possibility that she may have done it.

Mr. Linde spoke up from his seat, "Two students came to me separately yesterday and told me they had seen Abby use the cheat sheet during the exam."

Both Abby and Dave's jaws dropped simultaneously. Abby had been questioned before they had called her father, but they hadn't revealed this part to her. She quickly recovered her speech. "Was one of the students Daphne Jenkins?" She asked.

"I am not at liberty to say," Mr. Linde told her. "I promised the students complete anonymity."

"I know it was her," Abby said confidently.

"Why does it matter Pumpkin?" Her father asked her.

"It matters because she and I are neck in neck for valedictorian, and she's made it clear that she will do anything to get it," she told him.

"Even if one of the students was Daphne, and I'm not saying it was, there is still the second student who came forward," her teacher told her.

Abby's face fell for a second, "Well…I don't know what to tell you about that, all I can do is tell you that I didn't cheat!"

Principal Greene sighed, it always pained her when one of her good students screwed up, and Abigail Rossi was one of the brightest students she had seen in awhile. She didn't want to believe that the girl had cheated, but the evidence against her was too overwhelming. "Mr. Rossi, since Abigail is one of our best students, and since this is her first offense, we are willing to do something that is unheard of for a school of this caliber."

"I'm listening," Dave said.

"Mr. Linde has a two versions of the exam, one to give to the class and one for the students who miss it due to illness. Both he and I are willing to let Abby take the second version of the test right here and right now in my office. Whatever grade she gets on it will be her official exam grade."

"And if she doesn't take it?" He asked.

"Then I will have no choice but to refer this matter over to our disciplinary committee," the principal told him. "The faculty and students on the committee will be presented with both sides of the issue at a hearing and they will render a decision on the matter. Be advised, if they decide Abby cheated, at the very least she would end up with an F in the class and based on the school's honor code, they could decide to expel her."

"I don't care about the consequences, I'll fight it! I am _not _a cheater!" Abby said loudly.

"The decision is ultimately yours Mr. Rossi, but you will need to make it quickly. Grades need to be entered into the system by three o'clock this afternoon, so Abigail will need to re-take the test immediately if that's what you decide," Principal Greene told him.

"Would you give us the room for a minute so I can talk to my daughter in private?"

"Of course." The principal and the literature teacher started to leave the room, but before they were completely out, Dave had a question for them. "Out of curiosity, what did she get on the exam?"

"98%," Principal Greene told him. "It was the highest grade in the class." With that, she left the room.

For a minute, Dave and Abby sat in silence. Abby stared at the floor and desperately tried to keep control of her emotions while Dave just stared at her. "Why didn't you come to me or your mother if you were having problems in this class?" He asked quietly, his voice dripping with disappointment. "Either we would have helped you, or we would have found someone else to help you. You didn't have to resort to this."

Her head snapped up, "You don't believe me!" She cried.

"I want to believe you Abby, but-"

"But what? I'm your daughter, you _know _me! You know I wouldn't cheat!" Her voice was full of anguish now that she realized no one was on her side. It was one of those times when she wished her mother was there. _She _would have believed her; hell, she would have probably ripped both the principal and teacher new ones for daring to suggest that she would cheat.

A part of Dave knew she was right, she _wouldn't _cheat, but another part of him remembered her lack of studying during the past semester. He remembered how she didn't crack a book the entire time they were in Philly. He remembered her tirade about the class and how she was sure she wouldn't do well in it, and now she got the highest grade in the class? It didn't add up. "Honey, something like this could keep you out of college."

"I don't care! I didn't cheat, in fact I studied my ass off for this test! I immersed myself in a topic I _hate_ just so I could do well, so I could make you and mom proud and I'll be damned if I'm going to let them call me a cheater!" Her face was flushed and she was shouting and Dave knew she needed to calm down.

"Abigail-" he started warningly, but she was having none of it.

"No dad, it's time for you to choose. Either you believe I'm capable and willing to do something like this, or I'm not. I want to fight this accusation, but I know it's ultimately your decision." She took a shaky breath and continued, "If you tell them that we'll fight, then I'll know you believe me and trust me without question, just like I trust you. But if you make me re-take that test, then I'll know that you think very little of my personal set of values and I'll know that you don't know me well or trust me at all. Not only that, you'll be showing others how little faith you have in me and my abilities. It's your choice." She watched him for the next two minutes as he weighed the options in his head. She fervently prayed that he would make the right choice, that he trusted her as unconditionally as she trusted him. Her stomach clenched when the door to the office opened and Principal Greene walked in.

"I'm sorry, but I need a decision. If you have Abby re-take the exam, then she'll have to do it now so she has sufficient time to take it and Mr. Linde has time to grade it. If she doesn't re-take it, then we'll need to fill out the forms for an incomplete in the course and we'll have to contact the disciplinary committee."

"Give her the test," he said softly.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 10

* * *

Abby felt like her heart was tearing apart; she couldn't believe her father actually thought that she would cheat on a test. She was angry and hurt and she wanted to tell Mr. Linde to go fuck himself when he handed her the new exam, but she didn't think that would go over too well with any of the adults in the room. She accepted the test and a pen from him, swiped at some tears that had spilled down her face, took a deep breath and then focused on the task at hand.

Dave sat at the table and watched as his daughter pushed her emotions aside and began her test. He started to get a sinking feeling in his stomach as he watched her focus, look it over and then begin writing. As he continued to watch her, it was evident that she hadn't cheated on the first exam; she was confident and prepared and it was obvious that she knew the material. As she answered the short answer questions, it looked as though she barely had to think about the answers, and once she got to the long essay question he watched as she sketched a brief outline in the margin of paper and then set to work. She had two hours to take the exam, but she was done in an hour and a half.

Once she was finished, Abby looked the test over to make sure she hadn't missed any of the questions, stood up, set the test down in front of Mr. Linde and walked out of the room. She had no idea where she was going, since she didn't have her car with her, but she knew she had to get away from the school before she did or said something she would later regret. As she passed through the commons, she saw that some of her friends were still waiting for her and they had curious looks on their faces, but she didn't say a word as she walked out of the school building. As she stalked angrily down the sidewalk, all of the anger and hurt that she had put out of her mind in order to take the test came flooding back to her. How _dare_ they think she would cheat! Almost four fucking years of perfect behavior at that school and this is what she had to show for it? She had _always _been a model student and this was how they repaid her? Fuck them, fuck all of them!

And her father! How dare her _father_ think she would do something like this? She had always assumed he trusted her implicitly, but now she knew that she had been wrong, that all he needed were the accusations of a couple of people in authority before he sold her down the river. He hadn't even given her a chance when they were alone in the office; he thought she was guilty before then. It was like he didn't even know her, which he must not if he could think she would even _need_ to cheat on a test.

Abby really wished her mom was in town, she needed someone's shoulder to cry on. She was sure her mother would have believed her. She might have made her re-take the test, but she would have made sure to tell Principal Greene and Mr. Linde that she was only retaking the test in order to prove her innocence. She wouldn't have assumed she cheated just because of the accusations of the principal and teacher. As she was mentally ranting in her head, Abby noticed that she had walked to the Metro station and a light went on in her head, she knew exactly who she could go to. She swiped her Metro fare card, and headed for the platform. Thankfully the train arrived just as she reached the bottom of the escalator and she jumped in. As she sat down, she saw a transit cop eyeing her and she knew she needed to control her emotions, at least until she got to her stop. The absolute _last_ thing she needed was for the cop to call her father to come pick her up.

Once she got to her stop, Abby ascended to the street on the elevator and then purposefully walked towards her destination, barely controlling her tears. Five minutes later, she walked up the steps to a townhouse, rang the doorbell and waited. After a few seconds, she heard footsteps approach and then the door swung open and Abby was greeted by the smiling face of her grandmother.

"Abby, this is a surprise!" She exclaimed brightly. Her smile faded as her granddaughter suddenly burst into tears.

"Nonna," she said as she began to cry. Marie pulled her inside and gave her a big hug, which only made her crying worse.

"Little one, what's wrong? Why are you so upset?" Marie asked anxiously, as she led her to the living room. She had never seen her granddaughter like this and it was worrying her.

As they sat down on the couch, Abby fell into her outstretched arms, crying so hard that Marie was worried she would make herself sick.

"What happened Abby?" She asked again, hoping for an answer this time.

"Dad…teachers…cheating…didn't believe...re-take test…" Abby stuttered through her sobs.

Marie breathed a sigh of relief; at least the girl hadn't been physically hurt, which wasn't to say that her son wouldn't be. From the sounds of Abby's abbreviated story, her son had something to do with the state she was in, and that didn't sit well with Marie, it didn't sit well at all. She continued to hold her granddaughter in her arms until she finally calmed down enough to tell her the full story. It took hera good half-hour to get everything out because she kept breaking down into tears, but at the end, Marie was ready to drive to that school to give the teacher, principal and her idiot son a piece of her mind. The only thing that stopped her was that Abby had fallen asleep on the sofa after crying her eyes out. Marie covered her with a blanket and went into the kitchen to fix lunch.

xxxxxxxxxx

While Abby was making her way to her grandmother's house, Dave was still in Principal Green's office, waiting for Mr. Linde to grade his daughter's second exam.

"How did she do?" The principal asked. Dave didn't have to ask, he knew his daughter had done well on the test. God he was an idiot, how could he have ever thought she would cheat? Sure she hadn't been as academically intense this past semester, but that didn't mean she had cheated. A part of him knew he'd had valid reasons to believe the accusations, but another part of him knew he had been a total shmuck.

Mr. Linde gave a wry smile, "She did better on this exam than on the first one. Her essay was better and she got some of the extra credit points. She got 102 out of 100."

Principal Greene sighed, "Mr. Rossi, I sincerely apologize for our accusations, we should have known that Abigail would not cheat on an exam. I can assure you that both Mr. Linde and I will personally apologize to her on Monday."

Dave nodded, "And I assume you will look for the person who tried to frame my daughter?"

Mrs. Greene nodded, "You have my word."

Dave stood up, as did the two other adults in the room. "Well, I should go find my daughter and begin groveling. I can tell you that it's not going to be fun in the Rossi household this weekend."

"Again, I apologize," Principal Green reiterated.

Dave nodded and left the office, intent on finding his daughter. His first stop was the commons, and while she wasn't there, a group of her friends were and they all shot him dirty looks as he passed by their table; apparently the gossip line had been working overtime and while they already knew what had happened, they claimed to not know where Abby was. As he made his way to his car, he hoped to find her there waiting for him, but wasn't surprised when she wasn't there. He tried her cell phone but it went directly to voicemail, as did Jack's when he tried calling him. He wasn't worried that Abby had run away or anything, but he knew she was in a bad state of mind, and he wanted to make sure she was okay. Not knowing what else to do, he drove to the BAU.

Once inside the building, Dave beelined it to Garcia's lair and knocked. "Who dares to disturb the queen while she is on her lunch break?"

"It's me Garcia," Dave called and jumped when the door abruptly opened.

"Agent Rossi, what are you doing here?" She asked, surprised.

"I need your help." He told Penelope about what had happened that morning, her face growing darker with each word. When she heard that he couldn't find Abby, her dark look changed to one of concern and she sat down in front of her computers and began typing.

"Well, she hasn't used her debit card anywhere, and her cell phone is off, but I can tell you that she turned it off in the area of DuPont Circle." Garcia thought the older agent would be happy to know where his daughter was, but instead the man just groaned and buried his face in his hands. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head and looked up at her, "This situation just became exponentially worse," he moaned.

"Why? What's in DuPont Circle?" She asked.

"My mother," he responded.

"Oh," Garcia said, a grin slowly stretching across her face. "Good luck with that!"

"Thanks Garcia," Dave said dryly as he left her office. Once in his own, he picked up his cell phone, dialed a familiar number, took a deep breath and then hit send.

"Davie," his mother answered coolly.

"Is she there ma?"

"She is, but she doesn't want to talk to you right now."

He sighed, "Great."

"How in the world could you accuse your daughter of cheating?" Marie asked, her voice getting louder with each word.

"I _didn't _accuse her, the school did!"

"And you went along with them, didn't you?" She shouted. "Did you even _try_ to defend her? Did you tell them they were crazy to even _think _that about her? Because from what she told me, you believed them! You believed that this sweet, polite, _intelligent_ girl cheated on a test! Tell me that's not true Davie, tell me she's mistaken."

"She's not wrong ma, I thought she'd cheated," he practically whispered the admission.

"And did she? Did she fail the second exam?" Marie asked, already knowing the answer.

"No, she actually scored better on it."

"You are an idiot Davie and if you were here, I would be getting my wooden spoon!"

"I know ma, I shouldn't have assumed anything, but you haven't been around, you haven't seen her lack of studying, her lack of focus!" He tried defending himself, but Marie was having none of it.

"So that led you to doubt her, to doubt her character? Did you even let her tell you her side of it?" She practically screeched. His silence was enough of an answer. "You need to fix this Davie, you need to let her know you were wrong, that you do trust her, that you trust in her academic abilities and I can tell you right now, it won't be an easy fix."

"I know," he sighed. "I'll come get her."

"No, she's going to stay here for the rest of the afternoon and then Jack will pick her up here for their date tonight. I will remind her of her twelve o'clock curfew and I will make sure she knows that just because you were a jackass today, she still needs to respect your rules and be home on time." Marie knew her granddaughter needed some time away from her father so she could get a grip on her emotions.

"Okay ma, tell her I'll see her tonight."

"I will Davie, and you might want to start thinking of ways you can make this up to her," Marie told him as she hung up the phone.

xxxxxxxxxx

Four hours later, Jack was standing in Marie's living room, waiting for Abby.

"Where are you kids going tonight?" She asked him.

"We'll probably grab dinner and then go to a movie," he told her.

Marie was about to question him further but her granddaughter came into the room.

"Hi Jack, ready to go?" Both Jack and Marie could tell that Abby wasn't herself, she was just...off.

"Yup, let's roll," he said as he helped her on with her jacket.

"You two have fun," Marie told them, "And don't forget to be home by midnight Abby."

"I will, and thanks for everything Nonna," she said as she gave the older woman a hug.

"Any time little one," she said as she walked the two teenagers to the door.

Once outside, Jack turned to her, "What the hell happened today? The latest rumor has you trashing Principal Greene's office, failing Mr. Linde's class and telling your father to go to hell!"

"Damn, I wish that last part was true," she muttered before she told him the whole story.

"Wow," he said at the end of it, "You've had an interesting day."

"Tell me about it. Jack, I know we're supposed to go to dinner to 'talk,' but I don't think I can deal with a heavy conversation tonight. Can we just roam around the city instead?"

He nodded, "Sure, our discussion can wait. Where do you want to go?"

"How about Five Guys in Chinatown?" She asked hopefully.

He nodded as he held her door open for her. He closed it behind her, got into the driver's seat and took off.

Dinner was nice and low-key. They talked about her day and what she was, or was not going to say to her father, and they talked about how pissed off and hurt she was. They were still talking about that as they left the restaurant.

"You know what really bugs me about this?" She asked him, all worked up.

"No, what?"

"I'm always polite, well behaved and focused on my studies. I help around the house, I cook dinner four nights a week and I usually don't give my parents any trouble. I'm practically Pollyanna for Christ's sake! And what do I get in return? I get my father's accusations and distrust. Fuck it, why bother being the good girl? If he thinks he can't trust me, then fine, I might as well do something that violates his rules," she said, stopping abruptly.

"What do you have in mind?" Jack asked with a growing sense of foreboding.

"This!" She said as she grabbed his hand and pulled him into the business in front of them.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 11

* * *

"Are you crazy Abby?" Jack hissed, "We're in a tattoo parlor; you can't get a tattoo!" He tried pulling her back towards the door, but she wrenched her arm free of his grip.

"Would you chill out Jack? I'm not going to get a tattoo! Christ, the old man has a couple of tats himself, so while he would temporarily go ape shit, a tattoo on me wouldn't bug him for very long. Besides, I'm not an idiot, tattoos are permanent!'" She said as she walked toward the front counter.

"Thank God, at least you're thinking somewhat clearly," he mumbled as he followed her.

"What can I do for you lady?" The guy behind the counter asked her. He was the stereotypical looking tattooed biker guy. He had long, scraggily hair and he was dressed in leather, including a leather cap, and what wasn't covered by the material was heavily inked. He looked to be in his mid forties and his voice sounded like gravel from years of smoking.

"I'd like to get my belly button pierced please," she told him and she heard Jack gasp behind her.

"Are you in-fucking-sane?" He asked her, panicking a little. Her parents and his dad would kill _both_ of them when they found out about this!

She shook her head, "Nope," she said, turning to face him. "If there's one thing my father can't _stand_, its body piercing. He thinks it's ugly and he can't fathom why someone would want to get a part of them self pierced, and what my father doesn't understand, he doesn't like. Hell, I'm sure if he'd been around when I was younger, I wouldn't even have my _ears_ pierced right now." She turned back to the guy behind the counter, "Is this something you can do tonight?"

He eyed her suspiciously, "You eighteen?"

"Of course," she said smoothly, just as Jack yelled, "NO!"

The guy shook his head, "I'm going to need a parent's permission before I can do this."

Abby nodded, "I understand," she said as she reached for her purse. She unzipped it, reached into a barely used pocket and pulled out a hundred dollar bill. "I'll tell you what, why don't we just pretend that Benjamin Franklin here is my parent, and he's giving me permission. Of course, you'll need to keep the 'note' for your records."

Jack gaped at her as she slid the bill to the tattooed guy. He looked at it and then looked at her as if trying to make up his mind. Navel piercings were only fifty dollars, so he'd be making one hell of a tip on this one. "Okay lady, you got it. Give me a couple of minutes to get everything set up." He went into the back room and while he was gone, Jack tried to talk her out of it.

"You know this is going to hurt like hell, don't you?" He told her, hoping that the fear of pain would get her to change her mind.

"I know it will, but I'll have my best friend with me holding my hand," she said, smiling at him.

"You're crazy; he's not even going to see it tonight unless you show him outright, and if you do that, he'll skin you alive!"

"Oh, I know he's not going to see it tonight," she said, still smiling.

"Then why bother doing it?" He asked.

"Because he and I are eventually going to get past this, but what he did today is still going to suck, so I'd rather get back at him once he's become complacent." He looked confused, so Abby elaborated. "Picture it Jack; it's late May or early June and my parents and I are at the beach. I stroll out of the beach house in my bikini, which my dad _hates,_ and then he sees my navel piercing. He'll flip his shit! But by that point I'll be eighteen, so he won't be able to do anything to me, and even if he would make me take the piercing out, it will already have healed, so the hole won't close. It's perfect!"

Jack shook his head, it _was_ a good plan, but he knew when his godfather found out about it, he would kill him just for being an accessory. "Where did you get the hundred bucks?"

"Dad gave it to me to keep in my purse for emergencies."

"So let me get this straight," Jack said in a panicked voice, "You're using your dad's _emergency_ money to get your navel pierced? He's going to _kill_ you when he finds out, eighteen or not."

"So what? Like I said, I'm tired of being the good girl!" As she said it, the guy motioned her to the back room. After a moment's hesitation, Jack followed her, just to make sure everything went okay.

xxxxxxxxxx

The phone call Dave had been dreading all day finally came at around eleven-fifteen that night. With growing trepidation, he took a deep breath and answered it. Normally his wife's voice had a calming effect on him, but tonight it just made him more nervous.

They talked a bit about the case she was working on before she asked the dreaded question.

"So how are things there?" She asked, assuming her husband would tell her that everything was fine, that their daughter was out with friends.

"Um, well…there was a bit of an incident today," he said, hemming and hawing.

"Incident? What kind of incident? Is Abby okay?" JJ asked, panic evident in her voice.

"She's fine Jen…at least physically."

JJ's voice hardened, "Tell me what happened Rossi, before I jump on the next flight back there to see for myself that everything is okay."

With a sigh, Dave told her the entire story, from start to finish. At the end there was a dead silence and Dave was afraid that JJ was going to somehow come through the phone line and kill him. He was surprised when she finally began speaking.

"How's Abby doing?" She asked him.

"Okay, I think. She found solace at my mother's house and I haven't seen her since we were in the principal's office. She's out with Jack right now and I'm hoping she'll come home before curfew."

"She will be," JJ said confidently. "She knows the rules and she's a good kid, so she won't needlessly make you worry. How are _you _doing?"

That was the million dollar question, how _was _he doing? "I don't know Jen, a part of me feels I was justified in believing the principal and teacher. After all, we've both been worried by her lack of studying, and they _did_ have some pretty solid evidence against her. But another part of me knows I was an asshole, that I should have believed her, that I should have known she wouldn't have done something like that." He sighed, "I fucked everything up."

"You didn't Dave, you made a mistake but it's one that a lot of parents would have made. Abby will get over it; it may take some time and a lot of groveling and understanding on your part, but she _will _get over it."

"Tell the truth Jen, would you have gone along with them? Would you have believed she cheated?" He asked her.

"Honestly?" JJ asked, "I think I would have believed Abby. I would have made her retake the test, but I would have made it clear to everyone that I was doing so in order to clear her name."

"Christ, I'm the worst father on the planet."

"No you're not David, you're a _new _father and there's a big difference. I've been at this for over seventeen years while you've been at it for two, you're bound to make some mistakes," JJ tried to reassure him.

He was about to respond back when he saw headlights approach the house, "I think she's home, I should let you go."

"Okay, I should be home by Sunday afternoon at the latest," she told him. "I love you."

"I'm glad one of the women in my life does," he mumbled, watching out the window.

"Abby loves you too, it's just going to seem like she doesn't for awhile."

"I know and I love you too Jen." They disconnected and Dave stood in the great room waiting for his daughter to come through the door. He finally heard the front door open and close and he heard her put her jacket on a hook. She came into view a few seconds later and when she did, all she did was look at him for a moment and then she silently ascended the stairs.

He wasn't quite sure what to do with that; he had expected screaming, shouting and tears when she came home but he wasn't expecting a wounded puppy dog look and total silence from her. Sighing for what seemed like the millionth time that night, he locked up, turned out the lights and made his way up the stairs. He paused in front of his daughter's room and knocked on the door; he wasn't surprised when she didn't answer.

Knocking again, he asked, "Abby, can I come in?"

There was a pause, "No." She didn't say it rudely or angrily, she just said it like she meant it.

Huh, that was a new one, she had never denied him or JJ entrance to her room like that. Usually when she said no, she screamed it and then emphasized it with an object thrown against the door. Once that happened, it was usually a moot point whether or not she permitted them to enter because they were coming in regardless. Currently, he was at a loss as to what to do, so he knocked yet again.

"Pumpkin, we need to talk about what happened today. I know you're mad, but-" The door flung open and his daughter was standing on the other side of it. She was wearing her Hello Kitty pajamas and her face was freshly washed. That, paired with the tears in her eyes, made her look like she was about twelve years old.

"I'm not mad, I'm hurt," she said, her voice thick with emotion. She had been going from hurt to angry and then back to hurt all day. She had been angry when she had gotten her belly button pierced, but now that she was back home, alone in her room with time to think about things, she had switched back to hurt. "And I _don't _want to talk to you right now. Please just leave me _alone_," she said as she closed the door. She closed it in his face, but she didn't slam it like he had expected, so he decided to honor her request.

"Okay Abby, we'll talk tomorrow. I love you." He wasn't surprised when he didn't get a response back from her. He waited a minute and then crossed the hallway to his own room. He knew he needed to get a good night's sleep in order to gear up for the weekend.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 12

* * *

The next morning, Abby woke up with an ache in both her head and her heart. After tossing and turning for most of the night she had finally fallen asleep at around four in the morning but it hadn't been a restful sleep and as a result, her emotions were even more intense than they had been the previous day.

While an undercurrent of anger was present, hurt was still winning out. Every time she thought back to her what her father said the previous day, tears came to her eyes. As she got dressed in a tank top and sweat pants, she thought back to him saying that she didn't have to resort to cheating, how he _wanted_ to believe her but couldn't, and she had to wipe away a few stray tears that had made their way down her cheeks.

She went down to the first floor, hoping her dad wasn't in the great room and, miracle of all miracles, he wasn't. She grabbed her iPod out of her book bag that was by the door, threw on a jacket and then stepped outside. On the short walk to the gym, Abby was pummeled by wind and snow. 'Perfect,' she thought, 'Now my plans with Becca are ruined.' That was one thing that really sucked about living in the country, when the weather was bad they were pretty much stuck at the cabin. If this had happened when she had been living in the city, she would have just hopped on the Metro and taken it to Becca's. She was willing to bet even money that her father wasn't going to let her drive in this weather and she wasn't going to ask. Instead, she sent a quick text to her friend, cancelling their plans.

Once in the building, she quickly shed her jacket, plugged her iPod into the dock and blared the music. After warming up her muscles, she stepped onto the treadmill and began running. She had been going at a good clip for about fifteen minutes when her back was hit by a cold blast of air. Looking behind her, she saw her father enter the building; five minutes later, he got onto the elliptical machine next to her and also began working out.

She ignored him as she increased her pace, surreptitiously glancing down at her stomach to make sure her t-shirt hadn't ridden up. All she needed was for her father to see her newly acquired piercing. She couldn't believe he had followed her in here! He was the one in the wrong, he was the one who had been an asshole to her so he should be the one avoiding her. That was just a general life rule! Apparently her dad had missed that memo on that one. As the next song played over the speakers, Abby had to hide a smile. Since she had been alone when she first got to the gym, she had set her iPod to play her 'workout mix' and the mix was made up of rap, heavy metal and anything with a pounding beat. In short, it was all of the music her father hated. As 'Low' by Flo Rida came on, she glanced at her father out of the corner of her eye and saw him scowling. That added a spring to her step and she increased the pace of her run a little more.

Thirty minutes later, she decided to end her run. As she stepped off of the treadmill, she noticed that her dad had also stopped his workout on the elliptical machine and was following her to the stack of towels they kept in the corner of the room. While she got there first, he had longer arms than she did, so he grabbed two and silently held one out for her. She ignored the offered towel, got her own and began wiping her face. She watched out of the corner of her eye as her dad re-folded the unused towel and then wiped his own face. Once they were done, they both donned their jackets and silently walked back to the cabin.

Once inside, Abby went upstairs to shower while Dave stayed in the kitchen. As soon as he heard the shower turn off, he began making breakfast for the two of them. He knew Abby liked his pancakes, so he mixed up some batter and made her a stack. Along with the flapjacks there were also eggs, bacon and fruit salad. He knew she usually ate a light breakfast but he hoped that some of her favorite foods would put her in a good mood for the day. He also genuinely felt bad about the previous day and he was trying to atone for his actions in the principal's office. He knew that cooking her a nice breakfast wouldn't make up for everything, but he hoped it would be a start.

Abby had hoped that a hot shower would help her relax, but it didn't. She quickly rinsed the conditioner out of her hair, cleaned her belly button piercing and got out of the shower. As she toweled off, she thought of ways in which she could avoid her father for the day. She knew her best bet would be to stay in her room, but if she did that, she would be bored out of her mind within an hour. Also, she was pretty hungry so she decided to make herself some breakfast.

Sighing, she threw on a t-shirt and sweatpants and went down to the kitchen. As she sat down, her dad set a plate full of pancakes down in front of her. Abby looked at them for a minute and then pushed the plate aside. She got up, grabbed a bowl, some milk and her box of Fruit Loops and sat back down. She did this because she knew her dad would be pissed off that she wasn't eating the breakfast he made and because it horrified him to watch her put sugar on the already sugary breakfast cereal. It was working.

Dave felt his patience begin to slip when she refused his towel in the gym, and his grip on it didn't improve when she pushed aside his home cooked breakfast in favor of her Fruit Loops. His pancreas hurt as he watched her put three spoonfuls of sugar on top of the already sugar laden cereal and he had to stop himself from yanking the bowl away from her.

Abby read the newspaper while she ate her breakfast and once she was finished, she put the bowl in the sink and then went into the great room. She put a zombie movie in the DVD player and then curled up on the couch. She wasn't necessarily in the mood to watch a zombie movie but she knew her father hated that particular genre of movies and she assumed he would stay out of the room.

As his daughter left the kitchen, Dave's phone rang. "Hi honey," he said, greeting his wife.

"Hi Dave, how's it going there?" Her daughter and husband had been on her mind since they had talked the previous night. She knew Dave was in for a rough time with their daughterAbby and she wished she was there to help him out.

"It's like the goddamn cold war here Jen. She hasn't said more than five words to me all morning!"

"Honestly Dave, what did you expect? It's been less than twenty-four hours!"

"I guess a part of me hoped that I would wake up today and things would have magically fixed themselves," he told her.

"Good luck with that," she said. "Anyway, the reason I'm calling is that we wrapped the case but since you're getting pummeled by a blizzard, we probably won't be back until sometime tomorrow," JJ told him.

"Great," he muttered. He had hoped she would be home by this afternoon, even though the target return time always had been the next day. "You have fun in Iowa; eat some corn for me."

JJ laughed, "I will Dave, and good luck to you."

They both exchanged words of love and then disconnected. Dave quickly washed the breakfast dishes including Abby's cereal bowl and was appalled when he saw the milk was like syrup from all of the sugar, and then he went to check on his daughter. He found her curled up on one of the couches in the great room watching one of those horrible zombie movies. As he sat down on the sofa opposite from Abby, he grabbed the remote and paused the movie. That seemed to wake her from her daze.

She sat up and stared at him and he stared right back. "Want to go for a walk in the snow with me?" He asked her. She just shook her head.

After a minute he asked, "Are you ever going to speak to me again?"

Dropping her gaze to the floor, "Dunno," she answered.

"Look, I know you're angry with me, but-"

Abby interrupted him, "I told you last night, I'm not angry, I'm hurt." As she said it, Dave could tell it was the truth; the sadness and pain were evident in her voice. A part of her might be pissed off at him, but a much larger part of her was simply hurt by his actions. "And I _still_ don't want to talk about it."

Knowing he needed to back off, he said, "Fine," and pushed play on the remote. A minute later he left the room entirely, knowing she wanted her space.

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Later that afternoon, he went back into the great room to check on her and found her asleep in front of the TV. He watched her sleep for a little while before going into the kitchen to start dinner. Technically it was her turn to cook the meal but he didn't want to wake her, so he took out a jar of her frozen tomato sauce so it could defrost, and then began making pizza dough. An hour and a half later, the meal was ready.

He went back into the great room to wake her and instead found her flipping through the channels on the TV. "Dinner's ready Pumpkin," he told her.

"Not hungry," she said, which was a lie. For the last hour she had smelled her dad's cooking and she'd practically been drooling, but she would be damned if she took anything from him.

"I don't care," he told her. "All you've had to eat today is some of that diabetes inducing cereal; you are going to eat dinner tonight."

"Fine," she said sharply as she got up from the sofa. Her nap hadn't improved her mood, if anything it made it worse, and her feeling of hurt was rapidly switching to anger.

As she entered the kitchen, she went to the fridge and began rooting around so she could make her own dinner, but Dave wasn't about to let that happen.

"Uh-uh," he said. "I already have the meal prepared over here."

Sighing, she went over to the table and sat down across from her father. She helped herself to a couple of pieces of pizza and some salad and ate as quickly as she could, but it wasn't quick enough. Just as she was finishing, her dad began talking.

"Look Abby, I know I fucked up yesterday, but you have to see it from my point of view. I had the principal and teacher telling me you had done it. I had a cheat sheet in your font and those were clearly your words. I saw all of that combined with your lack of studying and focus this semester and I had to agree with them! What else could I have done?"

And that was all it took. That was all it took for her feelings to switch from hurt to angry. "What else could you have done?" She repeated harshly, "You could have believed me! You could have…no, you _should_ have realized that I would never do such a thing! But instead you went along with it! You let them call me a cheater, you let them doubt my character and what's worse is you joined them in it! I can't believe you think so little of me!" She yelled.

"I don't think that little of you, I made a mistake! God knows I'm not perfect and I made a mistake! You didn't give me much to work with though, all semester all I heard from you was bitching and moaning about that class and about how you were sure you were going to fail it. I sure as hell never saw you studying for it, so what was I supposed to think when you scored the highest grade in the class?"

"Just because you never saw me studying didn't mean I wasn't! I told you and mom that I had a free period this semester and I used that time to study. If you had doubts, you should have talked to me about them! Do you really think I want to screw everything up at this point in my high school career?" Abby was really shouting now and a part of her was afraid she was going too far, but at that point, she didn't care. "You know what? If you had told me when we were alone that you believed me but you wanted me to re-take the test to prove that I didn't cheat, I would have done it, no questions asked. The fact that you didn't believe me is what kills me! I thought you knew me, I thought you trusted me, but I guess that was just wishful thinking on my part!"

"I _do_ trust you Pumpkin-"

"Obviously you don't," Abby said as she interrupted him. "Do you know what I got on the re-take?"

"102 out of 100. Evidently you wrote a better essay and got some of the extra credit points."

Abby gave a harsh laugh, "That's not going to matter once Monday morning hits, I'll be gossip fodder for at least a week. Thanks for that," she said as she dropped her fork to her plate with a clatter. Not bothering to ask her father if she could be excused, Abby got up from the table and headed for the great room. As she hit the doorway to the kitchen, she turned her head and looked over her shoulder. "Hey dad?" Dave looked up. "Now I'm angry!" She exclaimed as she left the room.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 13

* * *

Sunday was similar to Saturday for the occupants of the Rossi household. Abby and Dave avoided each other like the plague except for when they had to interact, like at meal times. JJ returned Sunday afternoon and that cut some of the tension in the house as there was third person to talk to, but she knew that her husband and daughter had to work out their issues on their own, and she didn't want to intrude. She would, if need be, play the role of the moderator during their inevitable screaming match, but she wouldn't take either side on the issue. Privately, she thought that Dave should be doing more to make it up to Abby, but again, she refused to comment on the matter.

Monday morning dawned gray and cold, which matched the moods of everyone in the house. Dave was dealing not only with his pissed off teenage daughter, but also a case of writer's block that had been plaguing him for weeks. JJ was facing a busy week of paper work and that, combined with the tension in the house, had put her in a bad mood. Abby knew she was facing many questions and rumors about her at school and that made her foul mood even worse. As she sat on the Metro, she battled a growing headache as she thought of the day and week ahead of her. Listening to the rants of a crazy person on the train, she regretted not driving her car to school that day. While she loved her car, she _hated _DC traffic, so she usually drove to the Metro station that was a couple of miles from the cabin, parked her car there and took the Metro into the city. It was nice because it gave her time to study or zone out before the school day began. It also worked well for her on days when she was battling a headache, which were fairly often, because she didn't have to concentrate on driving.

As she had thought, once she arrived at school, there were a bunch of people waiting to ask her questions. The rumors had spilled out of control, with some of them saying she had flunked out of school, while others were saying she had lost it and mouthed off to the entire administration. Just about everyone had heard about the cheating accusation, and while both Principal Greene and Mr. Linde had apologized to her and had made their apologies common knowledge, there were still whispers about her academic record. It seemed that even though she was somewhat of a nerd and had been getting A's since kindergarten, many people wondered if she had cheated her way through school. The only bright spot in her day was learning that she and Jack had two classes and lunch together. If it hadn't been for that, she probably would have given up on the day entirely. As it was, she trudged through the day, her headache and mood growing steadily worse.

Once the day finally ended, Abby dozed on the Metro train until it got to her stop, slogged to her car and then drove home. Once inside, she hung her coat on a hook and tried to beeline it to her bedroom. Unfortunately, her father caught her before her foot hit the first step.

"Hey," he said, coming into the great room, "How was school?"

"Great, just wonderful," she said sarcastically.

He had hoped that being away from the house for eight hours would have improved her disposition toward him…apparently it hadn't. "Why don't you go get changed? I thought you and I could go to headquarters and take mom to dinner."

Abby gave an unladylike snort, "You are seriously on crack if you think I'm going _anywhere _with you, dad."

His patience was slowly deteriorating, "Abigail-" he started, but she interrupted him.

"Look, I have a really bad headache and all I want to do is take my medicine and a nap; if you want to meet mom for dinner, that's fine, just leave me _alone_!" With that, Abby walked up the steps and into her bedroom where she changed into a tank top and sweat pants. She then went into her bathroom, took her headache medicine and then came back out and lay down on her bed. She was asleep within five minutes.

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Two hours later, Dave awoke from a nightmare and found himself on a sofa in the great room. He remembered going in there after Abby brushed him off and he realized he must have fallen asleep. He tried to get his heart rate and breathing under control, but his mind kept going back to his dream. It was one that visited him pretty regularly and in it, he was eighteen again and caught in the middle of the bank robbery, but instead of using his sister as an example, the burglars used Abby. In his dream he was powerless to stop them from killing her, all he was able to do was watch.

He knew it was irrational, but he had to make sure she was all right. Usually when he had this dream at night, he would creep into her room and watch her sleep for awhile, until he could assure himself that she was safe. Remembering her plan to take a nap, he went up to her room and softly knocked on the door. "Pumpkin, can I come in?" he asked gently. Getting no response, he slowly turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. Once inside, he saw that she was asleep on top of the bedspread. He sat down in the lounge chair in the corner of her room and watched her sleep. Just seeing that she was safe and sound helped him calm down, and after ten minutes, he was physiologically and psychologically back to normal. He was still sitting there when she began to stir.

"Jesus!" She gasped as woke up to find someone else in her room. Once she realized who it was, her look of surprise changed to that of annoyance. "God dad, it's not at _all _creepy to wake up and find that someone has been watching you sleep." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm as she got up from her bed. Dave resisted the urge to remind her that she had stared both him and JJ awake the past two Christmases. She didn't say anything else; she just went into her bathroom and shut the door loudly. A minute later, he heard the shower go on, but he didn't move from his chair.

While he was annoyed with his daughter and her attitude towards him, a part of him was able to acknowledge that it was largely his fault that she was acting the way she was. He wanted to fix things between them, but she wouldn't let him try and that frustrated him. Unfortunately, Dave's frustration normally turned into anger, and that was slowly happening now. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he hadn't moved from his seat, and he was surprised when the bathroom door opened back up and his daughter stepped out of the steamy room, wrapped tightly in a towel.

"God! It's a good thing I decided to put on a towel before coming back into my room. What, you don't trust me enough to have privacy anymore?" She asked snidely, as she looked through her dresser drawers for something to wear.

Dave ignored the comment and the contempt behind it, "How's your head?" He always worried when she had one of her migraines. He knew they were common for her, but he always worried that they were indicative of a more sinister condition.

"It's fine, my medicine helped. Now, do you mind?" She asked, holding her clothing and looking towards the door.

He took the hint and got up from the chair. "Be downstairs in ten minutes, mom is bringing Chinese for dinner." He saw her open her mouth to argue with him, but he decided to nip it in the bud, "Attendance at dinner is _not_ optional," he said as he shut the door behind him.

Nine and a half minutes later, Abby made her appearance in the kitchen. Her mother had just arrived home and both she and Dave were opening the cartons of food.

"There you are, how are you feeling?" JJ asked.

"Better," Abby told her, reaching for the container of pepper steak. Grabbing some plates out of the cabinet, she handed each of her parents one and then started heaping food onto the one she kept. Once all of their plates were filled and drinks had been poured, they carried their food into the four season room and ate on the table in there.

For the first ten minutes of the meal, it was fairly silent as the three of them enjoyed the food. JJ finally broke the silence, "So how was school today Abby?"

"Oh it was great," she said dryly. "In between the questions and accusations that were leveled at me by other students, I got to hear the not so whispered rumors that about me. It was just perfect, it was everything I had hoped it would be."

"Well you'll be happy to know that Principal Greene caught the people who set you up," JJ said, ignoring her daughter's sarcasm. "It turns out that it _was _Daphne Jenkins who framed you. Apparently she got a hold of your notes through one of her friends, I guess you had lent them to her. Anyway, Daphne and her friend were the ones who told Mr. Linde you had cheated, but once Principal Greene questioned them, they confessed."

"That's great! It does nothing to rebuild my reputation at school, but at least Daphne will be out of the running for valedictorian."

JJ nodded, "The school also emailed us your report card…you got straight A's again! I can't tell you how proud we are of you honey!"

Abby smiled, "Thanks mom," she said and then turned to her dad. "Do you want me to retake any of _those _finals? Maybe you don't believe I fully earned my grades in those classes either."

The smile fell from Dave's face and he set his fork down with a clatter. "Okay, that's it," he said angrily, "I've tried to get you to see my side of the situation, I explained why I took their side and I've apologized over and over to you! What more can I do?" He was yelling by the end, but Abby was just as worked up.

"You _haven't _apologized! You told me you fucked up, but you _never _apologized! You never said you were sorry for thinking I could be that dishonest and devious! You never apologized for taking the school's side over mine! You NEVER apologized for not trusting me!" Abby took a deep breath; she didn't want to make her headache return. "God dad! Just over a week ago your ex-wife told us that you had an affair with her while you were away from us those two summers ago. She was pretty convincing and it was a plausible story, but I never believed her, I never even considered that you would cheat on mom, BECAUSE I TRUST YOU! I always thought the faith I had in you was a two way street, but evidently it's not, and that's what pisses me off the most about this! I haven't done _anything _to betray your trust in me, but once you were faced with a flimsy accusation, you turned on me! You didn't even try to hear my side! You ruined my reputation at school and you helped to make sure that my last semester of high school will be filled with rumors and doubts about me and my academic abilities. Thanks for that!" She shouted as she threw her chopsticks down on her plate and jumped up from the table simultaneously. Her parents heard her storm up the stairs and then a few seconds later, they heard her bedroom door slam.

JJ calmly resumed eating her supper, while Dave sat and tried to process everything his daughter had yelled at him. Finally he looked at JJ, "She's right, I _haven't _apologized to her. I've made excuses and I've tried rationalizing my side of it, but I never apologized," he said as he stood up.

JJ tugged on his arm, "Sit down and finish your dinner Dave, she needs to cool off before you try talking to her again."

He sat back down and resumed eating. The entire time he ate, he thought about the apology he would soon be making.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 14

* * *

An hour later, after the food had been put away and the dishes were washed, Dave once again made his way towards his daughter's bedroom. He knocked, received no answer and then knocked again. He frowned as he still didn't get an answer from her, so he opened her door and found her asleep on her bed. He was a little concerned at the amount of sleep she had gotten that day, but as he approached the bed he could see a pinched look on her face, which meant her headache had returned. She also had both hands on her stomach for some reason and Dave prayed that she wasn't getting sick. He could deal with a pissed off Abby and he could deal with a sick Abby, he just couldn't deal with both at the same time, since his daughter tended to get whiny when she got sick. He couldn't imagine having her angry, whiny and sick all at the same time...the thought made his blood run cold.

She was lying on top of her bedspread again and Dave could tell she was cold so he gently lifted her up and, with a free hand, he pulled down the bed spread. Laying her gently in her bed, he moved the open books onto her desk and then tucked her in. He remembered to turn her alarm clock on before he left the room.

Abby woke up the next morning feeling a little disoriented, since the last thing she remembered from the previous night was closing her eyes for a minute. She knew that one of her parents must have come in to check on her and they tucked her in and set her alarm. She was willing to bet even money that the parent had been her dad. While she was still pissed at him, she was slowly getting past it. Besides, she had more important things to focus on now, like school and her crazy relationship with Jack. Plus there was also the little matter of her new piercing and it was the piercing that brought her to her mother's office that afternoon.

She had driven to school instead of taking the Metro, so it wasn't difficult for her to get to Quantico. Once at headquarters she checked in with the guard at the front desk, received her visitor's pass and then headed towards the BAU. Stopping outside of her mother's office, she took a deep breath and knocked. Hearing a cheery "Come on in," Abby opened the door and stepped inside.

JJ was absorbed in a file and didn't look up right away. When she finally did, she was surprised to see her daughter standing in her office. "Abby, this is a surprise. Is everything all right?"

"Everything's fine mom…I just have a small problem that I need your help with."

"What kind of problem honey?" JJ was concerned, her daughter didn't normally show up at the BAU in order to talk about her problems, she usually waited until they were at home.

"Um, it's probably easier if I show you." Abby slowly stood up and raised her shirt so it was a few inches above her navel. As soon as she did, the metal bar going through her belly button could easily be seen.

As soon as she saw it, JJ gasped. "What did you _do_?" She hissed as she got up from her desk and came around to examine her daughter's stomach.

"Yeah, so I was _really_ pissed at dad on Friday, and Jack and I were out and I saw this place and the next thing I knew I had a pierced belly button," she told her. "But now I think it's infected!"

Still looking at the piercing, JJ nodded her agreement, "I think you're right," she said angrily and then looked up at her. "You know your father is going to kill you, right? And honestly, I don't know if I'll do anything to stop him! Of all the irresponsible, stupid and harmful things you have ever done, this has to top them all!"

Abby nodded, "I know and I'm sorry mom, but do we have to tell dad?"

"Do we have to tell dad?" JJ repeated incredulously. "Of course we have to tell your father! Do you honestly think I'd keep something like this from him?"

"I know, it's just that things are so bad between the two of us right now and this isn't going to help anything."

"Well maybe you should have thought about that _before_ you got a part of your body pierced!" JJ yelled automatically, but then she thought about what Abby had said. She _did_ have a point, something like this would make things much worse at home. She thought for another minute before she spoke. "Okay, I must be crazy for even suggesting this, but maybe we don't have to tell your dad about this."

Abby squealed and went to hug her mom, but JJ held up her hand to stop her. "Wait! My silence is dependent on one condition."

"Whatever it is, you've got it," her daughter promised.

"I want you to make up with your father within the next twenty-four hours," JJ told her and then watched as Abby's face fell.

"Moooommmm," she whined, "After what he did? He deserves the silent treatment for another _week_ before I forgive him."

"Well, you might think so, but I think he's had enough. I mean it Abby, it is way too tense in the house right now and I'm getting tired of it. That's my deal, take it or leave it."

Since she didn't have much of a choice if she wanted to keep living, Abby agreed to her mother's terms. "Fine," she grumbled.

"Good," JJ said as she picked up her phone. "I'll call Dr. Heston and we'll see if he can squeeze you in this afternoon since you'll probably need antibiotics for the infection."

Abby sighed and muttered under her breath, she _hated_ going to the doctor. "Hey," JJ said, hearing her daughter's theatrics. Abby looked up. "If you don't want to go to the doctor, we can always get a second opinion from your dad...or from Hotch."

"No, no, I'll go to the doctor," she said quickly. She knew her uncle would go postal if he found out about the piercing. He might not be as bad as her dad, but he would still be pretty damned pissed. Not to mention he would _kill_ Jack for going along with her and he would probably tell her father. Yeah, it would _definitely_ be best to keep Uncle Aaron out of this.

"Good," her mother said, as she waited on hold. "You know he's going to kill _both_ of us when he finds out about this, right? And notice I said _when_ he finds and not 'if'."

Abby nodded, "I know and I'll try to keep you out of it when it happens."

JJ snorted, "Don't bother, your father can read me like a book; he'll know that I knew." Just as she said it, the receptionist at the clinic picked up and JJ made an appointment for her daughter.

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After the appointment, where the doctor surprisingly didn't make Abby remove her piercing, both JJ and her daughter returned to the cabin. Once inside, Abby cooked her mom's favorite dishes for supper, both as a thank you and as a way to keep her in a decent mood. Dave wandered into the kitchen from time to time and while she wasn't as frosty to him as she had been in recent days, she wasn't exactly inviting either. She figured she had a little over twenty hours before she _had_ to make up with him and she was going to let him stew for a little longer. Her plans changed about two hours after dinner. She was sitting on her bed, with her books spread out when she heard a knock on her door.

"Who is it?" She called, hoping it was her mother. Luck was not on her side as it was her father who answered. "It's me Pumpkin, can I come in?"

"No." Abby said automatically. While she was slowly getting over her anger, and she knew she had to make up with him, she wasn't in the mood to deal with him at the moment.

There was silence on the other side of the door and she thought he might have left, when he spoke again. "I thought you could use a study break honey; I've got Rice Krispie bars out here." Dave was not above bribery to get his daughter to talk to him. He was tired of the cold war between them and he wanted it to end tonight.

As soon as Abby heard him say Rice Krispie bars, she began to salivate. She had been craving something sweet and her dad made the best Rice Krispie bars on the planet. She wavered in her decision not to let him in. "Fine, you can come in."

Dave entered her room and saw that she was sitting on her bed with her laptop and numerous books propped open. He sat down on the edge of it and set the plate down on her bed spread. "It looks like you're working hard," he said as they both reached for the bars.

"Mmm hmm," she said, taking a bite. "I don't want there to be any doubt as to my academic abilities this semester."

He set his bar down and looked her in the eye, "I'm sorry Abby, I am so sorry! I never should have doubted you, I never should have even _thought _you could cheat! I know you, and you're honest to a fault. I screwed up big time when I made you re-take the test…at the very least I should have told them I believed you but wanted to prove your innocence. I never meant to hurt you honey, but I know I did and I feel terrible about it."

Abby was silently crying by this point and she too set her bar down. "You didn't even try to hear my side of it, you just assumed I did it," she said pathetically. "Do you really think I would do something like that?"

"NO! God no honey…I don't know what to tell you, I think I was temporarily insane on Friday to ever even _think _you could cheat! I trust you and your mom more than I trust anyone else in my life and I'm so sorry for ever making you think otherwise!" He scooted closer to her and put his arms around her. All of the hurt and anger she had bottled up over the weekend came out and she cried into his shoulder. A couple of minutes later, after she was all cried out, she pulled away from him and wiped her face.

"Feel better?" he asked and smiled when she nodded.

"So are we okay?" He asked tentatively.

Abby thought for a minute and then nodded again, "All I really wanted was for you to apologize…and for you to promise to never do it again."

Dave crossed his heart, "I promise Pumpkin." He watched as she picked up another bar and took a bite, "Were things really that bad at school?"

"Yeah, they really were," she told him. "And they're going to be until someone gets knocked up or someone gets expelled or something. Then the focus will shift from me to the newest scandal."

"Sorry about that," Dave said, sheepishly and Abby just shrugged.

As she finished her last Rice Krispie bar, she kicked her dad out, saying she needed to study and he left, taking the mostly empty plate with him.

"Love you Abby," he said as he stepped through the doorway.

There was a pause, and then he heard a soft, "Love you too dad." He knew she wasn't totally over it, that would take time, but he knew they had finally gotten past this crisis.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 15

* * *

The next two weeks were busy and stressful ones for the members of the Rossi family. JJ was practically consumed with work as it seemed that the serial killers in the country went into overdrive during the winter months, but never in warm places. No, instead she was stuck travelling to the frozen tundra's of Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota. Why couldn't some of these guys commit their crimes in Hawaii or Florida? She supposed boredom factored into it; let's face it, what exactly is there to do in northern Wisconsin during the winter months? Because of all the travelling the team had been doing, JJ had barely spent two nights in a row in hers and David's comfortable king sized bed and she missed it, and she missed her family. She called them every night, but it wasn't the same as being there with them and, not for the first time, she questioned her decision to let David be the parent to stay home with their daughter. At times like this, all she wanted to do was hibernate at the cabin with her husband and daughter.

Late January was nerve wracking for Abby as she finished her college essays and submitted the applications via the internet. Even though the acceptance or rejection letters wouldn't arrive until sometime in March, she was already on pins and needles waiting for them. She tried to put the applications out of her mind as much as she could since she had plenty of other things to worry about. She was still the subject of some gossip at school, but thankfully it had died down within about a week after the cheating fiasco. It helped that Principal Greene had sent an email to the entire school letting them know that she had made a mistake in accusing Abby and then she apologized to her once again. Along with her studies, Abby was keeping up with the swim team, even though the season was technically over. She liked keeping in shape and she wanted to swim competitively in college, so she figured this was a good way to keep her times consistent.

She also had her relationship with Jack on her mind. They still hadn't been able to have the big conversation about their relationship, since Jack had been out of town with his dad over one of the weekends, and the other weekend was taken up by her aunts and uncles at a sort of 'mini-reunion' at her grandmother's house. They still saw each other in school and ate lunch together, but it wasn't the type of discussion that either one of them wanted to have in the cafeteria, and they didn't want to go out on a school night because they knew they would be rushed in order to make their earlier curfews. It sucked that this coming weekend was out since Jack would be visiting his uncle in New York. No, they would have to wait until the first weekend in February to have their talk.

The first month of the New Year was stressful for Dave as well. He was glad that he and Abby had finally gotten over the whole cheating mess. While she had forgiven him the night he had brought her a the Rice Krispie bars, it had taken a few days before she was back to her old self again. From that one event, he had learned that his daughter was capable of the coldest silent treatment imaginable and he knew that he never wanted to be on the receiving end of it again.

Dave had also been battling a case of writer's block since the beginning of the New Year and nothing he did seemed to help it. In fact, the block seemed to get worse as time went by. He had tried all of his normal techniques to get past it, from free writing off the top of his head to going for long walks along the property in order to clear his mind, but nothing seemed to work. What's worse was that it was starting to affect many aspects of his life as it consumed him and he began taking it out on his family, and the women in his life were slowly becoming fed up with him.

xxxxxxxxxx

JJ arrived home on the last Wednesday in January to find her daughter angrily chopping vegetables in the kitchen. She had a dark look on her face and was muttering under her breath. JJ, stressed out from a day of catching up on paperwork, cautiously entered the room.

"How's it going honey?" She asked as she slipped off her heels and poured herself a glass of wine.

Just as Abby opened her mouth to answer, a thud came from the study and shortly after, Dave bellowed a string of swear words that would have made a sailor blush.

"That well, huh?" JJ asked rhetorically.

Abby looked up from the cutting board, "I'm going to kill him mom, seriously. I mean, I know he's got a lot on his mind right now, what with the book deadline coming up in a couple of months and his writer's block and all that, but I'm still going to have to kill him!"

"What did he do now?" JJ asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"When I got home today, I went to work out in the gym…I figured that way I would be out of dad's hair and maybe he could get some work done. Yeah, that didn't happen. I wasn't in the gym for more than twenty minutes before he called me on my cell. He _called_ me, mom! He couldn't have gotten up and walked the two minutes to the gym, no, he called me. Twice! The first time he needed me to come in and fix the margins on his Word document because apparently they reset themselves and then the second time was because he needed help finding a website. Do I look like Google?"

"No, and your father should know better."

"No kidding! So then I came into the house, showered and then decided to make dinner. Without thinking, I put my iPod on the stereo dock in here and began playing my music. I didn't have the volume set very high, but from the way dad stormed in here, you would have thought I was playing it loud enough to rattle the windows! He came in here, bitched about the music being too loud, snatched my iPod off of the dock and then went back into the study. He still has it! So I haven't been able to listen to it through my headphones while I've been cooking!"

"I'm sorry honey, I'll talk to him-" JJ was cut off by her husband's irate yell.

"Abby! Dammit Abby, get in here!"

Taking a deep breath and mentally counting to ten, Abby started towards the hallway, only to be stopped by her mother.

"The knife stays here Abby," she said, taking it from her daughter's hand and setting it on the cutting board. She had a feeling that they had just narrowly avoided bloodshed. Abby nodded and continued down the hallway with her mother following closely behind.

"You roared?" Abby said as she entered the study.

"What did you do with the stack of paper that was here?" He asked, pointing at the recycle bin next to the printer.

"You said it was all scratch paper, so I put it out for recycling this morning before I left for school," she said confused.

"FUCK!" Dave yelled, "I had important notes and outlines on some of those pages, did you even bother to check? Did you bother to look to make sure nothing important was on those papers?"

"_No_, because you told me it was all scratch paper! Why would you put notes in the recycle bin?"

Dave just shook his head, "Godammit, you're grounded!" He snarled.

"WHAT?" Abby asked incredulously. He had to be kidding! All she had done was take the recycling out to the curb and he was _grounding_ her? She was about to yell back at him when she saw that her mother was shaking her head. "Nobody's grounded. Abby, will you give your father and I a moment alone?"

"Gladly!" She said, moving towards the door. She noticed that her father was glaring at her, so she shot a nasty look back at him before she left the room.

"Thanks for backing me up there, Jen," he said sarcastically, sitting back in his leather office chair.

"I would have backed you up if you didn't have your head up your ass," she told him. "By the way, you owe the swear jar about fifty bucks for all of the language you've been using. Hand it over," she ordered, holding out her hand.

"What the fuck do you mean? I haven't had my head up my ass!" He yelled as he pulled out his wallet and slapped a fifty dollar bill into his wife's waiting hand.

"You _told _her it was scrap paper, so she took it to be recycled. It wasn't her job to make sure that none of your precious notes were in there!" JJ yelled back.

"Well maybe if I had this study to _myself_, I wouldn't have to worry about people fucking with my notes!"

"That's it," JJ said softly but lethally. She knew he was frustrated, but it was _his _decision to make the room a joint study for the three of them. She marched around the large mahogany desk, grabbed her husband's ear and tugged. With a loud "OW!" he got up, followed her out of the office and up the stairs. He was bent at the waist since she still had a firm hold on his ear. Abby, who had gone into the great room, heard the commotion and saw her mother leading her father up the stairs by the ear and decided to follow them.

Once in the master bedroom, JJ let go of her husband's ear and went to the closet. She came out holding a large duffel bag and she began throwing clothes into the bag.

"Fucking-A Jen! Since when did you start channeling my grade school teachers? You have nothing on Sister Francis!" He said, rubbing his ear. He noticed his daughter grinning at him from the doorway and was about to yell at her but he changed his mind when he saw his wife begin to pack the bag.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"David," she began gently, "I love you with all my heart and soul, and I say this with great love: get out."

"What?"

JJ's tone hardened. "You need to leave before you say anything else to piss me or our daughter off any further," she told him as she threw some of his underwear into the bag.

"I don't…what do…" Dave was somewhat speechless. He knew he had been an asshole for the past couple of days, but he never expected his wife to throw him out because of it!

Her tone became gentler again and she began to explain, "Honey, you've never had to write with two other people in the house and it's got to be some of the reason for your block. I know you've tried to center yourself but it hasn't worked, so I think you need to have a place of solitude so you can write. Since Abby and I don't have anywhere we can go, _you_ need to leave. You can go to your hunting cabin, you know, the actual _cabin_. The one with four walls and not much else? I think you'll be able to finally get past your writer's block there." God help him if he didn't, because she wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to keep their daughter from following through on her earlier threat.

"But what if you get called away on a case? I need to be here for Abby," Dave argued, not wanting to exchange the comfort of this cabin for the rusticity of his glorified hunting shack.

"I'll stay. With Nonna." Abby said through clenched teeth from her position in the doorway. Her mother's idea sounded perfect to her, anything to put her father in a better mood!

"So our daughter can get away with being in a bad mood for a week, but I can't?" He whined.

Abby was about to retort back, but her mother beat her to the punch. "Are you really comparing yourself to our daughter? She is a seventeen year old girl whose blood is a hormone soup. You're in your fifties and you should know better than to take your frustration out on your loved ones, but you've been doing it anyway. I think you need a break, you need to go back to your roots." She disappeared into the bathroom and came back out with his toiletry kit. She put it in the duffel bag, zipped it up and handed it to her husband. "Come back when you've gotten past your block," she instructed as they headed back down to the great room.

"But Jen, what if I _can't_ get past it?" He asked softly. He knew something was off with him, and he hoped his wife was right, but what if it was something that he really couldn't get over? What would his writing career be reduced to?

"If you don't get past it by Monday, then come home and we'll figure something out," she said lovingly as she gave him a goodbye kiss. "I love you David."

"I love you too Jen, you too Abby," he said, defeated. Abby just nodded as he went out the front door. Both she and JJ heard his SUV start up and a minute later, they saw tail lights going down the long gravel driveway. They both sighed.

"What if he can't get past it mom?" Abby asked.

"Then God help us, because if you don't kill him, I will," she told her daughter.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 16

* * *

Dave muttered to himself as he drove down the long narrow driveway that led to the county highway. He couldn't believe his wife had kicked him out of his own house! Yeah, he'd been an asshole for the last week or two, but he couldn't help it, he just couldn't get past the goddamn writer's block, but he didn't think that was any reason to kick him out! For Christ's sake, he had to put up with at least one week of moodiness per month for each of his girls_, _was it so out of line to expect a little bit of sympathy and understanding from them? He didn't think so.

As he drove through a small town on the way to his hunting cabin, he realized he was going to a shack in the woods that had no food. He quickly turned into the parking lot of a small mom and pop grocery store and stocked up. He knew there was a grill at the cabin, so he picked up some steaks, potatoes, beer and junk food. In other words, he picked up all of the foods that Jennifer had all but banned from his diet. He paid for his purchases and then continued on the highway.

The next day, Rossi woke up early and sat in front of his laptop, practically willing some words to appear on the screen. Unfortunately for him, they did not and it made him even more frustrated. He finally closed the computer with a snap, jumped in a hot shower and went for a long hike in the woods. Later that afternoon, he returned to the cabin, grilled a steak and ate his dinner while reading a new mystery novel. He then turned in early for the night.

It was weird for him to be totally by himself, the last time he lived alone was the summer he left his wife and daughter, and that wasn't really a good time. He had gotten used to sharing his space with the two women and it was weird for him not to have them nearby. He was used to having background noise around him, whether it was Abby's music or some of JJ's movies, or just the chatter of his two girls talking. The silence at the cabin seemed almost oppressive at times, but he had to admit, it helped him to clear his head.

At around two in the morning, he bolted up in bed, he suddenly knew _exactly _what he wanted write and how he should write it. He leapt from the bed, grabbed his laptop off of the table and began typing. Other than to eat and use the bathroom, he didn't stop writing until the following night.

While Dave was in exile at his hunting cabin, life remained normal for JJ and Abby. It was a bit strange for both of them to be at the cabin without Dave there, but for all of the blustering he had done the past week, they weren't really sorry that he wasn't there. JJ didn't worry about being without him at the cabin as she had her weapon if needed, but the two of them hadn't lived alone for quite awhile, so it was a little disconcerting at first.

The really strange part came on Friday night, when Abby went out with some of her friends and JJ was totally alone in the house. She didn't know if she had ever been totally alone in the cabin, and she couldn't remember the last time she had been completely alone, period. She thought back and realized that she really hadn't had any alone time since before she and Dave had gotten back together. Sure, she had stayed in hotel rooms by herself while on cases, but that didn't count as she usually only spent a few hours in those rooms and the time was spent sleeping. She spent that night getting caught up on some reading and she watched a movie that both her husband and daughter didn't like. Once Abby was home, she double checked the locks and they both went to sleep.

The next morning, at around ten o'clock, the doorbell rang and JJ was greeted by the smiling face of Dave's sister Anna. Shortly after, another of Dave's sisters, Cathy, and Marie arrived for brunch. Marie normally came to brunch on Sunday, after mass, but JJ had invited her and her sisters-in-law for a Saturday bruncheon instead. Since Dave was still in exile, JJ figured it would give the Rossi women a chance to get caught up with each other's lives. She would have invited Dave's youngest sister, Rachelle, but she was in Romania doing humanitarian work. She would have also asked his brother John, even though it was supposed to be a girl's morning, but he was in Italy composing music.

JJ led the women through the cabin and into the kitchen where Abby was putting the finishing touches on the meal. "Hi everyone!" She exclaimed, as she removed her apron. She went over and hugged both of her aunts and her grandmother.

"What did you make little one? It smells delicious!" Marie was amazed by her granddaughter's aptitude for cooking. She knew the girl wanted to study law in college, but Marie privately thought she should enroll in a culinary academy.

"I made a sausage and egg casserole, hash browns and fruit salad. There is also coffee and orange juice," she told everyone. They all piled their plates high with food and then sat down at the table. It was silent for a few minutes, as everyone enjoyed the food, but then Cathy broke the comfortable silence.

"So where is my lovely brother this morning?" She asked, assuming he was at work.

"He's been struggling with a bit of writer's block lately, so we mutually decided that he should spend some time alone at his hunting cabin to try and clear his mind," JJ said diplomatically.

Abby snorted, "That's the polite way of saying it. What really happened was that dad was being a jerk to us for weeks, just because he couldn't figure out what to write, and then mom kicked him out!"

Anna choked on her coffee, "What?" She sputtered. Abby nodded, "Yeah, it was great! He had been an ass to me and then he yelled at mom and it was like she snapped. She grabbed him by his ear and dragged him to their bedroom where she proceeded to back a duffel bag for him! It was one of the only times I have ever seen him shocked speechless!" After a look from her mother, Abby reviewed her words and then stood up and dropped a dollar into the swear jar. As she sat back down, Anna was still laughing.

"It's about time that my brother has someone who won't put up with his bullshit! Way to go JJ!" She exclaimed as she got up and deposited her own dollar into the jar.

After that, they gossiped a bit about the rest of the family and JJ and Abby gained a little more insight into the Rossi clan. Then they each talked about their various jobs, or school in Abby's case, and their friends. It was a very relaxing and informative meal.

After the dishes had been cleared and everyone was enjoying some after brunch coffee, Marie inquired about JJ and Abby's plans for that night.

"It's been awhile since Abby and I have had a girl's night, so I think that's what we're going to do," JJ told them.

"And what exactly does a girl's night entail?" Cathy asked, curious.

"First we get a bunch of junk food, and we eat it steadily throughout the night. Then we give ourselves homemade facials and we paint each other's nails. Finally, we order pizza and watch some sappy romantic comedies that dad wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole," Abby told her.

"We also use the time to talk and get caught up with each other," JJ said. She was looking forward to that part as she felt that she and her daughter weren't as close as they once had been. She knew it was because they were both so busy, but she missed the closeness that they once shared. "The three of you should join us," JJ invited.

Cathy and Anna both declined, as they had plans with their respective husbands for the night. Everyone in the room was surprised when Marie also declined since she usually used any excuse she could to spend more time with her granddaughter.

"Do you have plans tonight Nonna?" Abby asked after her grandmother declined the invitation.

"I do little one," she said, looking down at her coffee mug. Everyone at the table could see that she was hiding something from them.

"What gives Nonna? What have you got going on?" Both Anna and Cathy were both amused and stunned at the same time. They loved how their niece wasn't shy about asking questions, but they were stunned that she would ask her grandmother a question like that, so boldly. They knew, however, that Abby was the one person who could get away with it, as their mother and their niece had a special relationship.

Marie began playing with the handle on the mug, "I have a date," she said, turning red.

"A DATE?" The four women asked in one voice.

"_Yes_, a date. Is that so hard to believe?" She asked.

"Not hard to believe, just…weird. Who is your date with?" Cathy asked, still stunned.

"A man who recently moved into the neighborhood…his name is Antonio and lives three houses down from me. He moved in about a month ago and he said it has taken him this long to work up the courage to ask me out."

"Go Nonna!" Abby said, "You've still got it!" Anna, Cathy and JJ laughed at this, while Marie turned even redder.

"Hush," she told her granddaughter, "This probably won't lead to anything anyway."

"Well if it doesn't, it's his loss," JJ told her mother-in-law.

"I would appreciate it if no one told Davie about this. There's no need to get him involved in our relationship unless it actually takes off. You know how protective he can be." The four women at the table knew firsthand how protective David Rossi could be and they reluctantly agreed to keep Marie's secret.

"I'll just add this to the list of things I'm not telling him about," JJ muttered under her breath, but Marie caught it.

"What else are you keeping from him?" She asked.

JJ glanced at her daughter, "Abby might have done something…impulsively, and if Dave ever caught wind of it, he would probably send her to a convent until she was forty."

"Oh come on, you can't give us that and then leave us hanging!" Anna exclaimed and then turned to her niece. "What'd you do?"

"Nothing," she said quickly, but it didn't fly with her aunts.

"Come on Abby, we all _promise _that we won't tell Davie, right?" Marie and Anna nodded and Abby looked at her mother to see what she should do.

"You might as well show them, since I don't think they'll leave here until you do."

Abby stood up, took a deep breath and then raised her sweater until her navel was visible. There was a gasp of surprise as the older Rossi women saw what she had done.

"Is that…did you?" Cathy couldn't get the words out.

"Yeah, I pierced my navel," she told them and then launched into the full story.

"Davie is going to go nuts when he sees this!" Anna cackled. "He _hates _body piercing! I had to sneak out to get my _ears _pierced when I was younger!"

Marie had a disapproving look on her face, "I don't like it Abby, but I can understand why you did it."

After that, the conversations wrapped up fairly quickly and the older Rossi women left. JJ and Abby then passed out in the great room, partly in order to gear up for their girl's night later that night and partly because Dave's sister's and mother had exhausted them.

xxxxxxxxxx

Dave awoke from a deep and peaceful slumber on Sunday morning. He stretched lazily in bed as a feeling of relief poured over him. He was finally past the writer's block and he couldn't be happier. Sure, the book wasn't finished yet, but he could tell that the worst of the block was behind him. As he lay in bed, his mind crept to his behavior over the last week or so, and it dawned on him that he was lucky that JJ and Abby hadn't just killed him outright. He had been a cranky, demanding SOB and he knew he had better have peace offerings with him when he went back to the cabin.

He got up, showered and shaved and then jumped into his SUV. On the way back to the good cabin he stopped to pick up a few things to take with him. Once at the main cabin, he opened the front door and walked into the great room. His girls were curled up side-by-side on one of the sofas and the blank DVD screen was playing on the television. There was also junk food, women's magazines and nail polish bottles all over the coffee table. With a smile, he assumed they'd had a girl's night and had fallen asleep while watching the movie. He plopped down on the other sofa and watched as they slept. They must have realized that someone else was in the house, as they both woke up a few minutes later.

JJ was momentarily startled to see someone else in the cabin, but when her brain made the connection that it was her husband, she relaxed. "Did it work?" She asked him.

Dave nodded, "The writer's block is gone."

"Good," mumbled a sleepy voice from next to JJ.

"Why don't you two sit up…I got you each a little something for putting up with my antics over the last week or so."

Both girls sat up eagerly. "Here you go JJ," he said, handing her a bouquet of her favorite flowers.

"Aw Dave, you didn't really have to do this," JJ said as she took a big whiff of the bouquet.

"Yeah, I really did. I've been a jerk the last couple of weeks, and I'm sorry. Neither one of you deserved that kind of treatment from me," he said as he handed his daughter a small, gift-wrapped box.

Abby ripped into it and laughed when she saw the first item. "Ear plugs?"

Dave nodded, "Hopefully my writer's block won't return, but if it does, I figured you might need them."

She reached into the box and pulled out a copy of a CD she had been wanting and then she grabbed the final item in the box, which was a small piece of paper.

"Immunity coupon?" She asked confused.

"Yup, that coupon gives you fifteen minutes to say whatever you want to me with no repercussions. By my calculations, I owe you many more minutes than that, but you'll have to settle for fifteen," he told her.

"I will, and thanks dad. I'm glad you're over your block."

"Me too Pumpkin. Now how about we all go into the kitchen and I'll whip up a batch of my pancakes?"

That sounded good to JJ and Abby and they followed him into the kitchen, both glad that he seemed more relaxed than ever.


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 17

~The next chapter is heavily outlined...enough reviews might motivate me to write it and post it earlier than I normally would :-)

* * *

The following Saturday, Jack had just made it past one of the levels in his Wii game when there was a knock at the door.

"Would you get that please?" his dad called from the other room.

Jack sighed, set down his game controller and turned off the console. Getting up from the sofa, he quickly crossed the living room and answered the door.

"Hi Jack. I swear you get taller every time I see you!" JJ exclaimed as she kissed his cheek.

"Ugh, don't remind me," Hotch said, coming up behind his son, who was now taller than him. "I've had to replace his wardrobe about three times already this year. If he grows any more, I'll have to take out a second mortgage just to keep up."

As the rest of the Rossi family stepped into the apartment, Hotch shook Dave's hand and kissed his niece on the cheek. Now that Dave was home more, he didn't see his niece as often as he once had and every once in a while he missed her.

"Are your college applications finished?" He asked her and she nodded.

"Yup, I sent them in a couple of weeks ago. Now I just have to wait," she told her uncle.

"Jack sent his in too, so he's in the same boat," Hotch told her. "What are you kids up to tonight?"

"I thought we'd order in some pizza, watch a movie and play some Wii games," Jack told him as everyone sat down. "What about you guys?"

His dad glanced at his watch, "As soon as Emily gets here, we'll all go grab dinner and then we're going to see that new psychological thriller. It looks really good."

JJ and Abby glanced at each other with raised eyebrows; Emily was coming? They both knew that Hotch and Emily never wavered from their ' we're just friends' mantra, but it seemed like they had been spending an awful lot of time together outside of work.

Jack groaned, "Don't you guys get enough of that stuff on the job?"

"Yeah, but its fun to sit in the theater and critique it," Dave told him.

"I'm sure the rest of the audience just _loves_ you!" Abby said and her father just grinned back at her.

"Does anyone want anything to drink while we wait for Emily?" Hotch asked. "She should be here in about ten minutes."

Dave declined the offer, but both JJ and Abby asked for ice water. Jack got up to get it and JJ followed him into the kitchen.

"Hey, can you do me a favor tonight?" She asked her nephew.

"Sure."

"See if you can find out what's bugging Abby. She's been a little…off for the last couple of days. She says nothing's wrong, but I can tell something is."

"No problem, but you know I probably won't be able to tell you what it is," he warned her.

"That's okay, I think she just needs to talk to someone," JJ told him as she took a glass of ice water from him.

Emily arrived five minutes later, and after chatting for another five, the adults finally left to go eat dinner. Once they were gone, Jack and Abby debated the various pizza toppings and then placed their order. While they waited for it, they played Super Mario on the Wii.

"Just so you know," Jack said, not looking up from the game, "Your mom wants me to 'talk to you' to find out what's bugging you."

Abby paused the game and set her controller down, "God, does she have to know _everything?_"

"You've met your mom, right? I love her, but she _is _one of those parents that has to know everything. You've been her kid for over seventeen years, are you just figuring this out?"

"Shut up," she said, smacking him lightly on the thigh.

"Yeah, but does she have a point? _Is_ something the matter?"

Abby sighed, "It's stupid."

"What is?" Jack asked.

She sighed again, "On Thursday I got home from school a little earlier than I normally do but my dad must not have heard me, because he was in the study with the door open and he was on the phone with your dad and he was consulting on a case. The phone was on speakerphone and I heard what they were talking about. My dad must have been looking at some photos, because I heard him tell your dad that based on the blood and tissue spatter, the weapon had to have been an eighteen gauge shotgun. He then told him that it reminded him of a case he had worked a few years before he retired, where a guy had been raping and killing college co-eds in the same fashion." She paused as she remembered the conversation. "I guess I just finally realized what it is our parents do."

Jack looked at her knowingly, "Ah, so you've had the great epiphany."

She looked at him questioningly, "What do you mean?"

"I mean that you finally realized that our parents are in a pretty fucked up profession."

She waved his theory away, "I've always known that my parents are FBI agents."

"Yeah, but you probably never really thought about it until now. Face it; our parents have some pretty twisted knowledge rattling around in their brains. Up until you heard Dave talk about it, it's always been an abstract idea to you, but hearing him talk like that made it real."

Abby was stunned; Jack had hit the nail on the head. "You're totally right. After I heard my dad talking like that, I went up to my room and really thought about it and it freaked me the hell out! I mean, God! How can the same man who makes me pancakes on Saturday mornings be an expert at analyzing blood spatter? How can the same woman who taught me just about everything I know be the same person who knows exactly what to say to manipulate serial killers? How can the same people who sit across from me at the dinner table and help me with my problems work at a job where they have to carry and use guns?"

"It's weird, but it won't take long for things to go back to normal for you," he told her. "Just try not to think about it too hard."

"But how can I _not_ think about it?" She asked him. "Last night the three of us watched a movie and at one point I looked over and mom and dad were cuddled up with each other and instead of thinking 'get a room,' like I normally do, I thought about how they have each killed people before. I know it was in the line of duty, but I just can't get those kinds of thoughts out of my head!"

"I know, but again, it _does _get easier. I had the great realization about a year ago and I was just as freaked out as you are, but I talked to a couple of friends at school, friends who's parents also work for some of the alphabet agencies and the same thing happened to each of them and they told me the same thing," Jack said patiently.

"That's good to hear, I guess, and it's not like it's really freaking me out or anything. I still love them like I always have, but it's just weird," she reiterated.

Jack was about to say something else, but the doorbell rang and they both got up to get the pizza from the delivery guy. They set it up in the living room and watched _Clueless_ while they ate. They were both fairly quiet during the movie, until Jack groaned as the credits began rolling.

"Why do I let you talk me into watching these brainless chick flicks?" He asked.

"It wasn't a chick flick! It was a classic nineties movie and it had a great soundtrack," Abby argued.

"It wasn't a chick flick? The main characters were all girls! The guys only got in the game at the end!" He told her.

"Were we watching the same movie? There were guys all over the place in the movie, and besides, Cher and Josh lived happily ever after. How can you hate that?" Abby asked.

"I didn't say I _hated _it, I said it was a chick flick; there's a difference," he told her. "Besides, the ending was kind of unbelievable."

"How was it unbelievable?"

"Josh and Cher ending up together? Come on, they were brother and sister for awhile, how weird is that?" Jack asked her.

"They were step brother and step sister, so it's not like they were related by blood. Also, it wasn't like they were brother and sister for their entire lives, only for a couple of years," she argued as she started to draw parallels between their own situation and the movie.

"Yeah, but do you really think everyone would be okay with them dating?" Jack asked carefully, also aware of the similarity of his and Abby's relationship. "Don't you think their parents would have had something to say about it?"

"I think their friends and family would be happy for them," Abby said cautiously. "I think they would see the affection between them and be glad that they had each found someone."

There was a long pause as each of them looked anywhere but at each other. Jack finally broke the silence. "Why do I get the feeling we're not talking about the movie anymore?"

"Because we're not…"Abby trailed off.

Jack took a deep breath, he was about to lay it all on the line for her and he wasn't a hundred percent sure how she felt about him, but he knew he had to take the risk. "Look Abs, I think I'm in love with you." He felt a giant relief when he saw her smile.

"I…I think I'm in love with you too Jack," she said softly, wondering if she was dreaming. She had been waiting to hear and say those words for quite awhile.

"Really?" He practically whispered.

She nodded, "Yeah you big goof! I don't know how many signals I've sent you!"

"You've sent _me_ signals? I've been the one sending _you_ the signals!" He retorted with a smile on his face.

"Whatever," Abby said, waving his claim away. "So how long have you felt this way?"

"Since Hawaii," he admitted.

"Hawaii! Jeez Jack, that was over a year ago! Why didn't you say something before now?"

"Because I wasn't sure how you felt about me! Besides, you kept acquiring new boyfriends over the past year, so what was I supposed think?" He asked her.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "You make me sound like a player when there were only two boyfriends, and like you're one to talk! You dated Christine, Lucy _and_ Jennifer."

"It's different for guys," Jack said with a lopsided grin. "We're supposed to date a lot of girls."

"Okay, now you're just _trying _to piss me off," she exclaimed as she slugged him on the arm.

"Shit, that hurt!" He hissed, rubbing his bicep. "So how long have you felt this way about me?"

"Since this summer when we went to that drive-in movie," she admitted. "I really wanted you to kiss me that night."

"And I really _wanted _to kiss you that night," he groaned. "Why didn't _you _say something before now?"

"Because I didn't want to screw up our friendship," she said. "And I still don't. You're my best friend and if we date and things turn sour, not only will I lose my boyfriend, but I'll lose my closest friend as well."

"Well let's make a pact then. Let's promise that if we ever break up, we'll always remain friends, no matter what happens." He saw the look of hesitation on her face and decided to press on. "Look Abby, we both have feelings for each other and we owe it to ourselves to see where they go; our friendship has already changed just by admitting these feelings. Besides, I think we'll make a great couple! We already know everything there is to know about each other, so we can skip over the 'what's your favorite color?' part of the relationship. Plus we deeply understand each other and we know the stress and screwiness that comes from being a BAU kid."

"BAU kid? That sounds like a name of one of those really dumb kid's bands," Abby said.

Jack smiled, "Is that the only thing you took away from my little spiel?"

She shook her head, "No…and you're right, I think we should see where this goes, so I promise that no matter what happens in our relationship, you will always remain my friend."

"Ditto," Jack said. "So does this mean I can do this now?" He leaned over and kissed her.

Abby smiled, "It does, but I think you can do better than that."

Jack's smile grew as he leaned over and gave her a passionate kiss, which she gladly returned. Their kissing turned into a full-on make out session and they both got so into it that neither one of them heard the front door open.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 18

**~Sorry, I know I said I would post this earlier if I got a bunch of reviews, and I did get the reviews but real life got in the way. A friend's mom died and I've been with her all day, so I haven't had time to write. That being said, I will try to get the next chapter out sometime tonight or earlier tomorrow to make up for it.**

**~Thanks to everyone who took the time to review the last chapter...reviews feed the muse!**

* * *

While Jack and Abby were at Hotch's place, watching movies and eating pizza, the four FBI agents ate dinner at Matchbox, which was a restaurant that Emily had picked. At first Dave wasn't too keen on going all the way into Chinatown just to grab a meal, but JJ had finally talked him into it and he had to admit that the food and ambiance in the restaurant was great. It was nice to socialize with Hotch and Emily outside of work and the four of them enjoyed the various conversations that didn't revolve around unsubs and killing methods for once. They enjoyed the dinner and conversation so much that they missed their movie, not realizing how late it was until the movie was half over. They all laughed when they discovered the time and instead of catching a later show, they decided to stay at the restaurant to continue talking over dessert.

Once the restaurant closed, they all headed back to Hotch's apartment where they planned to have coffee and continue the evening. They knew the kids were there and they figured Abby and Jack could join in their conversation. As they made their way down the hallway towards Hotch's apartment, the four adults were still relaxed and idly chatting about a reality show that all of them happened to follow. They were still chatting as Hotch opened the front door, and the four of them stepped into the apartment just in time to see the two teenagers engaged in their intense make out session.

Abby and Jack were so wrapped up in what they were doing that they didn't realize they were no longer alone until they heard the front door slam. As soon as they heard it, Jack quickly pulled his hand out from under Abby's shirt, where it had seemed to go of its own accord, and they quickly pulled apart and practically jumped to the opposite ends of the sofa. After they separated they faced the four adults, each of whom had different thoughts running through their minds.

Emily, who had no blood ties to either of the kids, found the situation rather amusing. Her first thought was to turn to Hotch and say 'I told you so,' but in light of the situation, she decided that probably wouldn't be the best course of action. Instead, she stood silently off to the side and waited for everything to unfold.

Hotch was torn as to what to do. Normally if he had walked in and seen his son making out with a girl, he would have cleared his throat until they separated and then he would have gone into the kitchen so he could still keep an eye on them while not being intrusive. But this time it was different, his son was making out with the girl he considered to be practically a daughter. If Hotch had ever walked in on Abby making out with a boy, he would have gone ballistic…he just never envisioned his son being the boy. What the hell was he supposed to do about this? A part of him was happy; his son had brought home a couple of girlfriends over the past year but none of them were right for him and the relationships never lasted long. As weird as it was, deep down he knew that Abby was good for him and she would make him happy.

JJ was a mess of emotions. Her first reaction was shock at seeing her pseudo-nephew and daughter making out as intensely as they had been; as often as Dave had hinted about feelings developing between the two, JJ had never seen it but now she had been hit over the head with it. She internally groaned, once they were over the initial surprise of the situation, she would never hear the end of it from her husband. Granted he spent more time with their daughter than she did, so he _should _have been the one to see the relationship develop, but she had denied it too many times for him to let her ever live it down.

JJ was also worried. When they entered the apartment, the two kids had been pretty hot and heavy and she wondered when and _if_ they would have stopped if the four of them hadn't come home early. She was also worried…no, not worried…hurt that Abby hadn't talked to her about her newfound feelings for Jack. There was a time when her daughter came to her with everything, but that time had apparently passed and JJ was sad that it had. Pulling herself from her own reverie, she looked at her husband and tried to read his thoughts. It didn't take a profiler to figure out what he was thinking.

After Aaron had opened the front door and the adults had walked in, Dave had also been shocked; the absolute _last _thing he had expected to see was his godson rounding second base with his daughter! His shock quickly changed to comprehension and anger as he replayed the scene in his head. Had the two of them really been making out like they were on a plane that was about to crash? Had they really been playing tonsil hockey? Had Jack really had his hand up his daughter's shirt? And had that been a flash of a black lace bra he saw as she tugged her shirt down into place? Was that a glint of metal he had seen in his daughter's abdominal area? His mind was on overload from trying to process everything he had seen and his fallback emotion of anger took over his brain.

"What in the HELL is going on here?" He roared as he strode over to the sofa. He grabbed Jack by the scruff of his shirt and pulled him to his feet. "What the fuck were you doing with my daughter?" He shouted, loud enough to make the windows rattle. Godson or not, Jack was dead; _no one_ touched his daughter in that way and lived to tell about it, no one.

The volume of Dave's voice, combined with the physical accostment of his son, brought Hotch into the fray.

"Best friend or not, you'd better take your hands _off_ of my son and back off Rossi," Hotch said in a lethal voice as he walked over and stood next to Jack.

The menacing note in his friend's voice pierced through Rossi's haze of anger and he let go of the teenager, although he was giving him a glare that had broken many unsubs before. "What in the hell is going on here," he repeated, a little softer this time.

While Dave had had his attention focused on Jack, Abby had scrambled up from her end of the couch and was currently standing next to her mother. While she could tell that her mother wasn't all that happy, it was better than being close to her father.

"We were just kissing, dad."

Dave whirled around and faced her daughter, "Just kissing? That was more than 'just kissing' and you know it! And since when do you and Jack kiss? The last time I checked, the two of you were 'just friends,' which is why we felt comfortable leaving the two of you alone in the apartment!"

"It wasn't like we planned it or anything, it just happened and this was the first time, honest!" Abby told him and got a skeptical look in return.

"It's true Dave," Jack said. "Abby and I talked about things tonight and we both realized we have feelings for each other…feelings that go beyond friendship. We decided we're going to try dating and see where it goes, but we never purposely kept this from anyone, we wouldn't do that."

There was a moment of silence while everyone processed what Jack had said. Emily finally broke it.

"I think I'm going to head out," she said, edging towards the door. This was clearly a family matter and she didn't want to get pulled into to it.

"I think maybe we should _all_ head home so that everyone can cool off. We can talk more about what happened later this week," JJ said, reaching for her purse and her husband at the same time. Dave allowed himself to be led to the door, but he glared at Jack over his shoulder the entire time.

Abby, who had been following her parents to the door, suddenly turned around and walked over to Jack. Before anyone could stop her, she stood on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "I had a great time," she told him, figuring her parents were already pissed at her, so she might as well try to end the night on a somewhat decent note.

Jack, who had a hint of terror in his eyes, looked at her and smiled, "I did too; we should do this again sometime."

She grinned at him. "Call me," she said as she turned to follow her parents out of the apartment.

Once the door was firmly shut behind Emily and the Rossi's, Hotch turned back to his son. "You and Abby…"

"Don't start dad," Jack said defensively. "This wasn't an impulsive thing; we talked tonight and we both realized that our feelings for each other have changed. I know it's weird, since we're practically brother and sister, but I…I love her, and I think she loves me."

Hotch was surprised; his son had never said that about _any _of the girls he had brought home in the past, and while he was right about the weirdness, Hotch figured everyone would get past it fairly quickly.

"I just want you to be happy son," Hotch told him. "And if Abby makes you happy, then so be it. Yeah, it'll be a little strange for everyone at first, but we'll get over it. You and Abby need to do what's right for you, not what's right for everyone else."

Jack was stunned, he hadn't expected his dad to approve of their relationship so quickly; in fact his fear of his dad's reaction was one of the things that had kept him from telling Abby how he really felt about her. "Thanks dad," he said softly.

Hotch nodded, "Do we have to have the safe sex talk again?"

Jack shook his head, "No, I'm good."

"Okay then," Hotch said, somewhat relieved. "Just make sure you don't hurt her Jack, because if you do, you'll have to face both JJ and Dave and let me tell you, you'll be lucky to get out of that alive."

"I wouldn't dream of hurting her, dad."

"Good. I've got some files to go through, so I'll be in my bedroom," his dad said and then left the room. Jack sat back down in front of the TV and picked up the Wii remote. While he was happy that his dad was on his side, he worried about what Abby was facing at home.


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 19

**~This chapter is a lot longer than I initially thought it would be, but I couldn't find a good place to break it up. Enjoy!**

* * *

The ride home was a tense one for the occupants of David Rossi's SUV. It was a quiet ride because JJ and Abby both knew that if they said one word, Dave would most likely snap. Abby couldn't even text with Jack since the interior of the car was dark and the light from her cell phone would have been seen by her parents.

Once home, they entered the house via the side door and just kind of stood in the kitchen and waited for something to happen. Abby finally took a deep breath and began to speak.

"Dad, I-" That's all she got out before her dad stopped her.

"Go to your room Abby," he said quietly but forcefully.

"What?" She asked, surprised. With her parent's love of talking about _every _little thing that happened in all of their lives, she thought that she would be in for a marathon discussion with them. She never expected to be sent to her room as if she was a small child. "I'm not eight years old dad, you can't just send me to my room!" As she spoke, she saw her dad's look change from one of tightly held control to one of anger and she decided to follow his order. "However, I will _choose_ to go to my room right now."

"Smart move," Dave said tightly as his daughter began her retreat. As he watched her make her way out of the kitchen, he replayed the scene from earlier that evening in his head. "Wait," he said and Abby turned around and took a few steps back into the room. "Let me see your stomach."

Abby's eyes widened and her heart clenched in fear, he must have seen the piercing when her shirt had ridden up earlier that night. She desperately tried to think of a to avoid showing him her piercing, when he made the decision for her. In two large strides, he crossed the room and yanked her shirt up a couple of inches.

"Daaaaddd!" She protested as she tried to tug her shirt back into place, but the damage had already been done.

"What. Is. That?" He asked through clenched teeth, pointing at the metal hoop in her navel.

Abby glanced at her mom, who was standing off to the side, and then took a deep breath. "It's my belly button ring."

A look came over her dad's face that she couldn't really describe and he spat out the word, "Sit!"

Because she wanted to live a long and fruitful life, Abby chose to follow her father's order and she promptly sat down in one of the chairs at the kitchen table. Knowing she wouldn't be able to stay out of this for much longer, JJ sat down next to her daughter. They both watched as Dave walked over to the swear jar, opened his wallet and dropped a twenty dollar bill into it. Abby closed her eyes after that; she knew she was dead if her father was preemptively paying for his language usage.

She opened them again when she heard her father pull out the chair across from her and she watched as he sat down.

"Did you lose your fucking mind?" He asked in a deceptively calm voice. Abby assumed it was a rhetorical question, so she remained silent. It wasn't. "Answer me!" Dave yelled, slamming his hand down on the table.

"No, it was an impulsive thing, I didn't plan on doing it," she told him in a small voice as she stared at the table.

Dave gave a sharp bark of laughter, "So we can add piercing a part of your body to the list of things that you didn't plan. Like you didn't plan on sucking face with Jack tonight!"

She looked up, "I didn't! We told you that it just happened! We were discussing how our feelings had changed for each other and it led to kissing!"

"Well thanks for giving us a heads up on that as well!" Dave yelled, "If you knew your feelings were changing towards him, why the hell didn't you tell us?"

"Because!" Abby yelled, "Contrary to popular belief, I _don't_ share every single minute detail of my life with both of you, and I shouldn't have to! Like it or not, there are things that go on in my world that you don't know about, and you never will!" Abby, seeing the look on her father's face, decided to dial it down a little. "Obviously once we decided to try a relationship, I was going to tell you about Jack because I didn't want to keep something that big from you, but until that happened it was really none of your business." After the words were out of her mouth, Abby realized that it might not have been the smartest move she could have made under the circumstances.

JJ felt her own heart clench at her daughter's words. The days of her sharing all of the details of her life were truly gone and it saddened her. She saw a glimmer of the same unhappiness in her husband's expression, but it was overshadowed by anger and frustration.

Dave closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath. "Okay, putting aside the whole 'Jack' topic, what in the _hell _ever possessed you to pierce your belly button?" He asked loudly.

'Damn,' Abby thought, 'I was hoping that if we started talking about Jack, he would forget about the hole in my navel.' "I did it a couple of weeks ago, the night of the whole cheating thing. I was really pissed at you that night and when I saw a tattoo parlor, I decided to get it done."

"So you went into some seedy tattoo parlor with no forethought, no research on the cleanliness or any health code violations and you let some creepy guy stick a piece of metal through a part of your body? Is that what you're telling me?" Dave shouted and Abby nodded. "I can't believe you would mar a part of your body as payback for my jumping to conclusions! You're _damn_ lucky it didn't get infected!" He saw her look away guiltily. "It _did_ get infected, didn't it?"

Not meeting his eyes, she softly said, "Yes."

"So you kept that from us as well! Christ Abby, not two weeks ago we argued over my level of trust in you, and now I find out you pulled this shit?"

She looked at him, "I _told_ you, it was impulsive, I did it because I was mad at you. If anything it was your fault!"

"You'd better watch your tone with me young lady!" Dave warned, ignoring her implication. He then he looked thoughtful for a minute, "You had to know that I would eventually see your piercing, especially if you planned on parading around in your bikini this summer. Were you hoping that I would be mellower in the warmer weather?" He thought for a second as he waited for her answer; if that belly button ring would have kept her from wearing that goddamn bikini during the summer, it might have been worth it.

"I figured by the time you saw it, I would be eighteen and you wouldn't have been able to do anything about it."

This time Dave's laugh was genuine, "What, you think that when you turn eighteen you won't have to live by our rules anymore? Have you lost _all_ brain function?" Abby stayed quiet as she was sure _that_ was a rhetorical question. "Okay then, the ring comes out. Tonight. Right now," he ordered, and was shocked when Abby shook her head.

"No way, I went through a lot for this piercing, including a round of antibiotics and there's no WAY I'm taking it out!" She told him.

"Abigail Marie Rossi, you _are _taking it out-" That was as far as Dave got before he was interrupted.

"I'm NOT! It's my body and I can do what I want with it!" She argued, defiantly crossing her arms over her chest.

"The hell you can!" Dave shouted back at her. "I'm going to make this really simple for you Abby; either you take the ring out, or I go get my pliers, but either way you're getting rid of it!"

Abby shot a pleading look at her mother, who held up her hands. "Don't look at me, I told you this would happen when he found out." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, JJ realized she had screwed up.

Dave stared at his wife with a mixture of shock and fury. "YOU KNEW?" He roared.

JJ didn't look her husband in the eye, "I knew," she practically whispered.

"You knew all along and you kept it from me? Of course! _That's_ how she got the antibiotics for the infection, she came to you and _you_ took her to the doctor's office!" Dave couldn't believe his wife had kept this from him.

"Now you need to go to your room," JJ instructed her daughter, who was only too happy to follow the order this time.

As soon as he heard Abby's bedroom door slam shut, Dave laid into JJ. "I can't _believe_ you kept that from me! We're supposed to be a team, for Christ's sake! How could you keep it from me? _Why_ did you keep it from me?" He bellowed.

"Because she came to me for help and she specifically asked me not to tell you," JJ told him.

Dave just looked at her, she knew he would need a better answer than that.

JJ squirmed under her husband's gaze, "Look Dave, you're with her much more than I am now and I feel like I'm losing my place with her. When it was just the two of us, she came to me with all of her problems and she came to me when she needed advice, which I loved. But now…now she comes to you with everything and I feel like I'm missing out. I guess when she came to me at the BAU, it felt like old times, it felt like we were back in the days when she would visit me at work and we would talk about our days. I knew it was wrong to keep this from you, but I knew if I didn't, she would probably never come to me again. I'm sorry I kept it from you, I shouldn't have."

Dave sighed, his anger towards his wife had dissipated after her confession, "At least you didn't know about it ahead of time."

She shook her blonde head, "No, I had no idea until it became infected." They sat in silence for a minute, both of them pondering the events that had taken place that evening. "Maybe we should focus more upon the more pressing situation."

"And which situation would that be?" Dave asked, getting worked up again. "Would it be the fact that my daughter somehow finagled her way into getting a body part pierced without either of our permissions? Or is it that we walked in on her and my godson going at it on the sofa? How about the fact that she apparently owns some fairly racy lingerie, based on the flash of black lace I saw when said godson took his hand out from under her shirt. Which situation should we focus on?" There was a touch of hysteria in Dave's voice

"Well, we've already discussed the whole 'belly button piercing,' and I'm with you, the ring is coming out whether she likes it or not." Dave nodded his agreement with her statement and she continued, "As for her lingerie choices…well, we can't really control that and honestly that's a battle not worth fighting." Seeing that he was about to interrupt her, JJ spoke quickly, "It's not like we can monitor all of the things she buys, honey, and in the whole scheme of things, this is fairly tame. Besides, she usually dresses fairly modestly, so it's not like the lingerie will ever be seen."

"Unless some guy has their hands up her shirt, like he did tonight," Dave grumbled.

"About that, do you really not want her to see Jack? Because I don't have a problem with it; in fact I'm fairly happy about it. We already know Jack and we know he's safe. We know he'll treat her right and we both already like the kid. Unless you _really_ have a problem with it, I don't think we should stand in the way of them dating."

Dave thought for a minute, "I don't have a problem with their dating, I have a problem with them making out the way they were tonight."

JJ nodded her agreement, "Me too, and that's why Abby and I are going to have a long talk tomorrow about feeling pressured and going too far and about taking responsibility."

"In other words, you're going to talk to her about sex," Dave said and JJ nodded. Taking a deep breath, he pressed on, "I think I should be a part of that discussion."

His wife's eyebrows shot up so high in surprise that they were nearly lost in her hairline, "_Really_?" She asked in shock. She'd had numerous discussions like this with their daughter and he had never wanted to be a part of them before. In fact, he usually tried to leave the house whenever he knew they were taking place.

Dave nodded, "Like you said before, I'm the one who spends the most time with her and I'm the one she comes to with her problems and questions. I want her to know that she can come to me about anything, so I should know what you're telling her."

"Are you sure honey? Because tomorrow's talk will probably be the most in-depth one yet. I'm talking bananas and condoms." Dave swallowed hard and nodded. "Okay then, but you can't make her feel any more uncomfortable than she already will be. No snide comments and _no_ ripping on Jack or any of her previous boyfriends. And there will be absolutely no judging of any of the questions she asks. Capice?"

"I got it honey," he said.

"One more thing Dave; when we talk, we don't just talk about waiting until after she's married. I mean I make it clear that that's our expectation, but we also talk about safety and responsibility if she decides not to wait. You can't come in and lay down the law that she has to wait until after she's married, you have to be somewhat open minded. Can you do that?"

He swallowed hard and nodded again, "I can, but I'm going to let you take the lead, okay?"

"That's fine, now why don't we go to bed? I have a feeling that tomorrow's going to be a long day," JJ said and smiled as her husband wrapped his arm around her waist and walked with her up the stairs.

Once in the master bedroom, both of them changed into their pajamas and brushed their teeth and just as they were getting into bed, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," JJ called out. The door opened and their teenage daughter walked in.

"Here," she said, handing her father a silver hoop. She lifted her pajama top to show him that the hoop was from her navel.

"Thank you," he said as he set the ring down on his bedside table.

"I still think I should be able to do what I want with my body, but if it bugs you that badly, I figured it was easier to remove it." She didn't add that she was half afraid that he would follow through with his threat of removing it himself with his pliers. "I also wanted to say that I'm sorry. I'm not sorry for kissing Jack, because I don't think we did anything wrong, but we should have been more discreet about it. If anything, we should have waited until we were alone in a parked car," she joked. Seeing the look on her parent's faces, she knew she had said the wrong thing.

"Okay, see what I did there? I made a joke about this WAY too soon. Sorry."

"Apology accepted," Dave said as Abby sat down on the foot of the bed. "By the way, you're grounded."

"For kissing Jack or for making the joke?" Abby asked.

Dave held up the silver hoop, "For this."

"Oh," his daughter said, defeated. "How long am I grounded for?"

"Until I know I can be sure that you won't pull a stunt like this again," he responded.

"So in other words, I'm grounded indefinitely," Abby said and Dave nodded.

"But the good news is that your mother and I have decided to allow you and Jack to date," he told her.

"Really?" Abby was happy that they weren't holding tonight's events against them.

JJ nodded, "Really, but you and I are going to have a long talk tomorrow about the make out session we walked in on." She didn't tell her daughter that her father would also be a part of that conversation because she didn't want her to be nervous about it.

Abby rolled her eyes, "Another sex talk, really? Haven't we had like a million of those?"

"We have, and we'll keep having them if that what it takes to keep you child-free and safe from diseases," her mother told her.

Abby figured it was a small price to pay for being able to date Jack. She kissed her parents goodnight and went back into her room. Once she was gone, Dave turned to JJ and asked, "Is there ever a dull moment in our family?"

"Never," she responded and kissed him goodnight.

Just as she was drifting off to sleep, she heard Dave whisper, "I told you so."


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 20

**~This is a bonus chapter...I wasn't going to write it but a couple of reviewers wanted it and I got some PM's requesting it, so here it is. I'm hoping to have the next chapter posted later tonight or early tomorrow (it's 930pm where I live).**

**~Drop me a PM or review to let me know what you think of this story so far.**

* * *

David Rossi was in hell. He had always imagined hell would be filled with fire and brimstone, or at the very least his trio of ex-wives waiting to inflict some unholy torture upon him, much like they did when he was married to them, but it turned out hell was sitting at the kitchen table discussing sex and birth control with his daughter. While he was not doing much of the talking, preferring to sit off to the side with an expression on his face that was a cross between horror and sheer embarrassment, just hearing his daughter and wife discuss the pros and cons of birth control pills was enough to make him wish he was in a dark alley somewhere confronting a murderous unsub.

That was the funny part of this whole situation; he could, and in fact _had_ faced some of the most fucked up people on the planet and none of them had intimidated him the way that this two hour long conversation had. Jennifer had been right; the conversation had been _very _in-depth, starting with the mechanics of the whole process. He was actually pretty impressed at his wife's knowledge of the biology of sex and he wondered if she had gained some of that knowledge by asking Reid about it. Once that thought entered his mind, his stomach turned over a little; this was definitely _not _the time to think of Dr. Reid and his wife.

Once they finished discussing the biological part of reproduction, they moved onto the methods of preventing it. Rossi was a little disturbed at how much his daughter already knew about this particular topic although he knew anytime the commercials came on during TV shows, there was a good chance that one of the ads would be for birth control. While he was horrified at the thread of conversation they...well JJ really...were having with their daughter, he was surprised to find that he learned a bunch of things from it; he honestly had no idea that there were so many different forms of birth control available to women and he sure as _hell_ didn't know the mechanics of all of them. Again, he was impressed that his wife knew all about them, although how and why she did remained a mystery to him, and at the same time he was horrified that his daughter was learning all about them.

Once they finished their discussion of the types of birth control, it was time for a hands-on demonstration. While JJ made it clear to Abby that they expected her to wait until after she was married to have sex, or at least until she was older, she didn't want her daughter to be unprepared if and when the time came, so that meant demonstrating and practicing with one of the most popular forms of birth control...the condom. Watching his daughter roll a condom onto a banana had to rank up there with one of the most uncomfortable and appalling moments of his life. It bothered him that she was learning how to do this and it greatly disturbed him that she was a quick study and became adept at it rather quickly. He knew one thing though; it would be a _hell_ of a long time before he ate a banana again.

After the disquieting birth control portion of the afternoon, they moved into the pressures that were felt as a teenager and the various repercussions of having sex while in high school. Dave was actually a help during this part of the show. Having once been a hormonal high school lothario, he was able to tell her the ways in which guys tried to get girls to sleep with them. He was also able to confirm the various locker room conversations that went on about girls who went too far, too fast and he told her honestly that guys tended to have more respect for girls who waited. After his speech, he wasn't sure if his face could get any redder, but then they moved onto the Q&A part of the conversation.

"I know condoms are really effective against pregnancy and preventing STD's, but doesn't it kind of kill the mood? I mean is it really realistic to be going at it and then just pause everything to put a condom on? Where's the romance in that?" Abby asked her mom.

"Trust me Abby, once you're that far along into the event, hardly anything will kill the mood," JJ responded, knowing that she had to be as open and honest as possible with her daughter. Dave however was dismayed that she would share something like that with their daughter. In his mind, the correct answer was 'yes, it will definitely kill the mood and once that happens there's no getting it back, so you might as well not even bother getting that far.'

"Isn't the pill supposed to be like 99.9% effective?"

"It normally is," JJ said wryly, "But all you have to do is look in the mirror to see the .01% that isn't effective. That's why it's always a good idea to have a back-up method, in case one method fails."

"Did you and dad use a back-up method?" She asked and that's when Dave learned he _could_ turn even redder than he had been. While he knew JJ wanted to be open with their daughter, he would have personally drawn the line at questions about their own sex life, but apparently there were no boundaries during these types of discussions.

"We didn't, we just got caught up in the moment and we assumed that the pill would work. That's why I want you to learn how to be responsible in these situations." JJ told her.

Switching gears, Abby asked, "So what about if I've been with a guy for awhile and he's really nice to me and wants to sleep with me but I'm just not ready. Should I do it anyway just because he wants to? Because that's what happened with me and John and I second guessed that decision for awhile."

Dave had held his tongue for most of their discussion and he was pretty proud of himself for doing so, but this question opened all of the floodgates and he did just what he promised JJ he wouldn't do.

"Absolutely not!" He said loudly. "If you're not ready then it shouldn't happen, and you shouldn't be ready until after you're married and even then you might decide not to do it! You can lead a long and happy life without having sex!"

Hearing her husband begin to speak, JJ just put her head in her hands; they had been so close to the end, why did he have to start now?

Dave continued his rant, "Plus that John kid was a little asshole and you can do much better! You shouldn't ever doubt yourself about the decision you made. And as for all of the birth control we discussed, the only 100% effective one is abstinence! If you don't want a baby, don't have sex; it's that simple."

"Sweetheart, shut up!" JJ said, hoping that he wouldn't undo everything she tried to instill in their daughter that afternoon. Unfortunately Dave was on a roll.

"Don't try and stop me JJ, all afternoon I heard about ways to prevent pregnancy and I watched the hands on practice, but what she should be learning is how to say no! You can say it many different ways. You can verbalize it, you can say it with pepper spray, or you can say it with a kick to the guy's crotch, but bottom line is that you should be saying no until after you're married!"

Abby remained calm during her dad's tirade, although she found herself blushing a little. If the conversation had been uncomfortable for Dave, it had been a hundred times worse for Abby because she was talking to the two adults who created her and she couldn't get the idea of them having sex out of her mind. "So if I were to say yes before I was married and I got pregnant, are you saying you wouldn't help me? Would I be one of those girls who would be living on the streets trying to raise my baby? Would you stop loving me because of it?" She wasn't being a smart ass with her questions; she genuinely wanted to know how her dad would react.

JJ was about to answer them when Dave jumped in, "Shit no, Abby! I've told you a hundred times that there is _nothing_ you could do that would make us stop loving you! And of course we would help you if you had a baby; we're just trying to prevent that from happening."

"Honey, your father and I want you to wait because we want you to be a kid for as long as possible. Deciding to have sex is a very adult decision and if you do it too early, you lose a part of your childhood forever. We just don't want you to grow up any faster than you already have," her mother told her and she was being completely honest with her daughter. JJ knew that before Dave was in the picture, when it was just the two of them, Abby had to take on some adult responsibilities. Now that they didn't have to worry about money and now that there were two parents, a lot of those responsibilities were taken over by Dave, and JJ wanted Abby to remain a kid for as long as possible in order to make up for it.

"Sex can also change a relationship," JJ continued. "Once you have sex you can't go back to holding hands. I know you and Jack plan on being friends even if your romantic relationship doesn't work out, but do you really think you could do that if you slept with him? It takes the relationship to a whole new emotional level."

"That's a good point," Abby said thoughtfully, "But Jack and I aren't even _close _to that step. I know seeing us make out last night freaked you guys out, but we really would have stopped. I can't promise that it won't happen in the future, but right now it isn't even a blip on the radar."

"That's good to hear honey, but will you promise me that you will talk to one of us if you ever seriously consider having sex?" JJ asked.

Abby thought for a minute and then nodded, "I will, as long as _you _promise me that you won't ground me or make me break up with the guy to stop me from doing it."

"I promise," JJ said and then she and Abby both looked at Dave. "I promise," he mumbled.

"Good, now do you have any more questions or is there anything we didn't discuss that we should have?" JJ asked her.

"No, I'm good, I think we hit on everything," Abby said, somewhat anxious for this discussion to be over with. It wasn't quite as embarrassing when it was just her and her mom, but knowing her dad was there made it much worse.

"Is there anything else you wanted to discuss Dave?" JJ asked him and he shook his head. "Okay then, just keep in mind that if you ever have _any _questions or need to talk to one of us, we're always here for you."

"Thanks mom," Abby said getting up from the table. On her way out of the kitchen, she reached for a banana so she could have a snack, but then looked at it and set it back down. It would be a _long _time before she could look at a banana in the same way again.

Once Abby was out of the room, both of her parents exhaled deeply. "_That_ was one of the most uncomfortable moments of my life," Dave said as he reached for the phone book.

"You did pretty well, other than your rant at the end. I could swear you promised me that you wouldn't do that."

"What can I tell you honey, I tried. I tried damn hard but I just couldn't keep my mouth shut. You're lucky that's all I did, I seriously contemplated locking her in her bedroom for the next ten years." As he spoke, he was thumbing through the phone book.

"What are you looking for Dave?" JJ asked, surprised that they even had a phonebook anymore.

"I'm looking for the phone number of the nearest convent. Locking her in her room isn't enough; I need the brides of Christ to keep watch over her," Dave said seriously.

JJ snorted, "Come on, let's go watch a movie or something. Once a little time has elapsed, you'll get over our discussion."

"Trust me honey, the events of today will be forever burned into my mind." He set the phonebook down and followed her into the great room where they watched an old movie and fell asleep in each other's arms.


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds and NCIS are owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 21

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The weeks passed quickly for the Rossi family. There were no more major crises after the whole 'Jack incident' and life went back to normal for everyone. Dave was much mellower since he had gotten past his writer's block and because of his mellowness, he ungrounded his daughter after less than a week of being on restriction. This allowed Jack and Abby to have their first official date a week after they were caught making out. It was weird for everyone involved, because Dave usually terrified any kid that came to take his daughter out, but he found that he couldn't really intimidate his godson because he had known him since he was a baby. Instead of intimidating Jack, Dave found himself actually feeling relieved that Abby was going out with him. As JJ had pointed out to him, at least they knew Jack and they knew he would be good to Abby. It helped when he returned her to the cabin a full half-hour before her curfew. It only took a few weeks for all of the parents to get over the strangeness of their children dating.

As her final high school semester wound down, Abby found herself busier than ever. She had hoped that her last semester would be a 'blow-off' semester, where she could finally slack off, but the competition for valedictorian became intense and she had to step up her game by doing extra credit projects. She had also elected to take one final AP class and her workload and stress level increased because of it. It got to the point where Abby was almost too busy to worry about the college acceptance letters she was waiting for. Almost. Most of the time she was able to put it out of her mind, but the anxiety kept her up some nights and she couldn't wait to get an answer from the colleges, whether the answer was good or bad. It was the not knowing that was killing her.

Thankfully Jack understood the pressures she was under, as he was under many of the same ones. It was nice to have someone she could talk to who understood what she was going through instead of just telling her that everything would work out, like her parents often did. Jack frequently joined her in complaining about the amount of time it took for the colleges to send out the letters and he was as busy as she was with school work, so they could commiserate about that. While she was busy and stressed out, Abby found that she was happier than she had been in awhile, and she knew most of the happiness came from dating Jack.

Like the rest of her family, the month of February went by quickly for JJ as well. The cases seemed to drag on and once they wrapped one up, there were a dozen more waiting for the team's attention. Because of the large number of cases that seemed to come out of nowhere, Dave was frequently asked to consult on them and JJ was happy to be working with her husband more often. While he didn't accompany them to the various cities, just hearing his voice and his thought process was enough for JJ to stay in a good mood while the team was working the cases.

JJ had also made a conscious decision to spend more time with her daughter. A week after the 'Jack incident,' the two of them talked and JJ shared her fears about losing her place in Abby's life. Abby was surprised that her mother felt that way and she reassured her that it wasn't happening, but JJ was still worried. They finally decided to set Wednesday nights aside as mother/daughter night. On those nights, Abby came to the BAU from school and then she and JJ went out for dinner and then they went shopping or to a movie. It was fun for both of them and JJ felt like she was reconnecting with her daughter.

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Like the saying went, the first week of March came in like a lion. As Abby walked down a somewhat unfamiliar street, she tightened the collar of her jacket around her neck in an effort to block the wind. Both of her parents were out of town on a case, and while it was rare that her father was pulled into the field on a case, the team was frustrated and needed his help. They were in New York where an unsub was kidnapping members of the high society. After torturing them for four days, he killed them slowly and then dumped the bodies at various tourist sites throughout the city. The city officials were demanding results and the team had been there for a week before finally requesting Dave's help. He had flown out immediately and had been there for another week.

The only problem with Dave travelling with the team was there was no one for Abby to stay with. Nonna was in Italy with Rachelle, and Dave, JJ and Abby were going to meet them over there during Abby's spring break at the end of the month, but that meant that Abby couldn't stay with her. Garcia was in New York with the team, most of her aunts and uncles were traveling to various parts of the country and even Father Jimmy was at a convention in Tucson. When Abby suggested to her father that she was old enough to stay by herself, he laughed for about five minutes and then told her to start packing. While she did, he called one of his friends from NCIS.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Dave went back about fifteen years. During Dave's first stint in the FBI, before his retirement, he had worked on a joint case with NCIS and it had put him in contact with Gibbs. At first the two men despised each other, but when they went to apprehend their main suspect, an unknown accomplice was hiding in the shadows and he took a shot at Dave. Gibbs had seen the shooter just in the nick of time and had pushed Dave out of the way, saving his life. That had cemented the man as one of the few people Dave could trust with his life, and over the years they had become good friends. Since he could trust the man with his own life, he figured he could trust him with the life of his only child, so Abby had ended up staying with him.

As Abby made her way to Gibbs' house, which was near a Metro stop, she thought about her stay with the solitary man. She had met him a bunch of times over the past couple of years, so it wasn't like he was a complete stranger, but she would have preferred staying at the cabin or at Nonna's. He worked long hours and when he was home, he tended to leave her alone unless she asked for his help or engaged him in conversation. On her third day there, he could tell she was stressed out about a test she was taking the next day, so he invited her into the basement to help him with his boat. She accepted his offer just to be polite, privately thinking she would hate it, but to her surprise the sanding of the wood helped her clear her mind and she found it relaxing. As a result, Abby began taking her books down there and she studied and talked to him while he worked on the boat. All in all, staying with Gibbs hadn't been as bad as she thought it would be.

As she pushed open the front door of Gibbs' house, her cell phone rang. She knew it was her father by his ringtone, which was the Sinatra song 'My Way.' She smiled as she answered it.

"Hey dad," she said as she shut the door behind her and inhaled deeply through her nose. She had thrown the fixings for beef stew into the slow cooker before leaving for school that morning and the house smelled wonderful.

"Hi honey, how's it going?" He asked as he watched JJ set up for her press conference.

"It's going good, I got a ninety-seven on my history test," she told him as she set her bag down and went into the living room. She was surprised to see Gibbs sitting on the couch. Not wanting to be one of _those _people who had their phone conversations wherever they happened to be, she backed out of the living room and went into the kitchen.

"That's great Pumpkin!" Her dad exclaimed and she could hear his smile over the phone line, "See, I told you you'd do well on the test."

"I guess you were right," she told him, stirring the contents of the slow cooker. "How's the case coming along?"

"That's why I'm calling; we finally caught the guy and we're wrapping it up in a few minutes with a press conference," he said and Abby could hear the exhaustion in his voice. She knew this had been a rough case for the team and she hoped they stayed in New York tonight so they could get some real sleep.

"When will you be home?" She asked.

"We have to finish some paperwork, so we probably won't be home until sometime tomorrow," he told her, as he watched his wife put the finishing touches on her press statement. She signaled that she was almost ready to begin, so he ended the conversation with their daughter. "Your mom's getting ready to talk to the press, so I have to go. Tell Gibbs that we'll see you both tomorrow, okay?"

"'Kay dad, love ya."

"I love you too Pumpkin," he said and then flipped his phone shut. He made his way over to the raised podium and stood between Hotch and the chief of police. The rest of the team was spread out along the makeshift stage.

Back in Washington, Abby flipped her phone shut and went to join Gibbs in the living room. "You're home early," she said, somewhat surprised. He tended to work almost as many hours as her mother did and she hadn't been expecting him home so early.

Gibbs was reading over a file and drinking his ever present coffee. "We have a tough case and I needed to get out of the office to clear my head," he explained. "How are your parents?"

"Good," she said as she sat down on the opposite end of the couch. "They finally wrapped their case up and they'll be home tomorrow, so this is my last night here. Wanna work on the boat later?"

He looked surprised, "It's Friday night, aren't you going out with that boyfriend of yours?" Abby had been at his place the previous weekend and Jack had picked her up there. While JJ and Dave hadn't been able to terrorize him, Gibbs had and he'd had doing it. He had intimidated the kid so badly that he was sure Jack hadn't even held Abby's hand during their date. Abby had made her displeasure known when she returned home later that night.

"No, he's going out with some friends from the track team tonight, we'll probably go out tomorrow night instead. Do you mind if I turn this on?" She asked, pointing at the TV.

"Go ahead," Gibbs said and then took a deep breath. "God Abby, it smells great in here! I'm gonna miss your cooking when you leave."

Flipping the channel to MSNBC, Abby said absently, "Well you'll just have to come over for dinner more often." She had hoped that one of the major news networks would carry her mom's press conference live, since it was such a high profile case, and she wasn't disappointed. She watched as her mother approached the podium and began speaking.

Gibbs set his file down and watched with Abby. "Your mother is good at her job."

"Yeah, she is. You can tell my dad doesn't like being on camera though," she said, referring to her dad's uncomfortable look. While JJ was front and center delivering her statement, Dave and the rest of the team were standing behind her on either side.

"We would like to thank the residents of New York for their vigilance and patience while we worked to solve this case" JJ said as she wrapped up the conference. "The streets of the city are safer tonight because of it."

With that, she gathered up her notes and it looked like she was about to step away from the lectern. In Washington, Abby picked up the remote control and was about to turn the TV off when she heard what sounded like the pop of a firecracker. Her attention swung back to the screen and she watched as a bright red stain began to bloom in the center of her mother's chest, before she fell to the ground. A split second later, before anyone had a chance to react, another pop sounded and a similar stain appeared on the left side of her father's chest and he too went down. Abby stared at the TV in horror for another few seconds before the entire screen went black.


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 22

**~Wow, I did not expect the number of reviews and PM's I received after posting the last chapter...thankfully no one was _too _upset with me for putting the super couple in harm's way. I really appreciate all of the reviews, with the traffic counter acting all fluky, it's nice to know that people are still reading my story. **

* * *

"'Kay dad, love ya." Dave smiled as he heard his daughter end their call.

"I love you too Pumpkin," he said and then flipped his phone shut. As he made his way over to the raised platform where Jennifer would soon give the press conference, he couldn't help but smile. He didn't know how or why it happened, but he was much more content to spend his days at the cabin in Little Creek than he was catching the bad guys in whatever city the team happened to be in for that particular case. If someone had told him this five years ago, he would have suggested a trip to the nearest psych ward. Hell, even while he was retired he never really lost the lust for getting into the heads of the 'bad guys'. He travelled all around the world, interviewing some of the most evil people on the planet in order to write about them in his numerous books, and when he wasn't writing about them, he was thinking about some of his unsolved cases. It was a passion that had never really left him...until now. He knew there were many people in many prisons who would be shocked that the Great David Rossi had been felled by a seventeen year old girl, but he had been. It was during this case that he realized he liked hearing about his daughter's day and he enjoyed hearing her talk about school, her friends and whatever else happened to be on her mind. Even when he was frustrated and angry with her, he found he really liked being a dad.

That thought was on his mind when his wife stopped him before going up to the platform. "What has you so happy?" She asked.

"I'm just glad we're finally done with this case and can go home tomorrow…I'm man enough to admit it, I miss our daughter."

JJ gave him a soft smile. While she had loved working with her husband again, she knew he was anxious to get back to the cabin. "I miss her too, although I _am_ glad that we have that big hotel room to ourselves tonight. Just think, we can do whatever we want without having to worry that a seventeen year-old will walk in."

Dave groaned, "That's just mean to do right before you go up there," he said, gesturing to the jury rigged stage.

"Your dream will soon be a reality, Agent Rossi; just let me go up there and do my thing and then we can head back to our room. If you're really good, maybe I'll do that thing with my tongue you like so much," she teased.

"Christ honey, do you want me to stand up on that stage with a raging hard on? Because if you don't stop talking, that's exactly what's going to happen."

JJ gave him a wicked smile and then planted a quick kiss on his mouth. She then took her place behind the podium while Dave stood between Hotch and the chief of police. Once his wife started talking, Dave kind of zoned out. Part of him was thinking about the evening ahead of him, while another part of him was thinking about how to spend the rest of the weekend, while yet another part of him was spacing out due to exhaustion. That was one of the aspects of travelling with the team that he didn't miss; the all-nighters, the constant feeling of fatigue, the dependency on many pots of coffee. He was so deep in his thoughts that he almost didn't hear the sharp retort of the gunshot that rang out, but he sure as hell saw his wife go down.

In the millisecond after his wife was shot, Dave lost the ability to do anything other than stare in horror. That was his true love! That was the only wife he had ever cared about! That was the mother of their child, and she had been shot! As his brain function returned, he went to tend to her, but before he could even lift his foot to take the first step, another shot rang out and he felt a searing pain in his left chest. He took a step, then stumbled and fell backwards onto the ground.

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JJ awoke to an agonizing pain in her chest. Her first thought was that she was having a heart attack, but that wasn't right, she was too young for that and she had none of the risk factors. She tried to figure out what was wrong with her, but an insistent voice kept derailing her train of thought.

"JJ wake up! Wake up right now Jennifer Rossi!" She cracked her eyes open and found Derek putting pressure on her chest with both hands. A worried looking Emily was on the other side of her, holding her hand and taking her wrist pulse at the same time.

"Trying…to cop…a feel…Derek?" She asked weakly and got a shaky laugh in return.

"Shit girl, don't ever scare us like that again!" He told her.

"H-how…bad?"

"You're going to be fine JJ," Emily said quickly, much too quickly for it to be true. JJ could tell by the pain she was feeling, the blood on Derek's hands and the looks on her friend's faces that she was _not _going to be fine.

"Dave," she whispered.

"Dave can't be here right now JJ, you'll have to settle for looking into my handsome face," Morgan said, trying to assess her condition. Surprisingly, for the type of hit she'd received, she wasn't bleeding as heavily as he thought she would be and he took it as a good sign that she was able to talk to them. He wished the paramedics would get their asses in gear and get to them already, and he sent up a quick prayer to the fates above.

While Derek was lost in his own thoughts, JJ wondered where in the hell Dave was. She would have thought he would be the first person at her side during something like this. She tried to put that thought out of her head and focus at the task at hand.

"Tell Dave that I love him…tell him I-" Derek interrupted her.

"Do I look like fucking Western Union? You wanna tell him something, tell him your own damn self!" There was no way Derek could be responsible for relaying JJ's possible last words to her husband and daughter, it would drive him crazy! Thankfully Emily was emotionally stronger than he was.

"What JJ? What do you want me to tell him?" she said, recognizing the severity of her colleague's wound. She knew she had to do this for her friend, she owed her that much.

JJ turned her head to face Emily, "Tell him I'm sorry for k-k-keeping Abby a s-secret...let him know that I've loved h-him since the m-moment I met him...t-tell him I'm s-s-sorry for cutting our m-marriage sh-short…" She trailed off at the end and both Emily and Derek knew that her condition was worsening.

"That's enough now Jayje," Emily said, but JJ gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head. "Tell Abby th-that I love her more th-than anything else in the world...let her know that I'm s-sorry that I w-won't be able to w-watch her g-grow up...make sure she knows that I n-never regretted having her. Tell her…" she trailed off again.

"You're going to be able to tell her all of that yourself Jayje, you're going to be fine!" Emily said with a false brightness.

JJ used her remaining strength to grip the woman's hand. "Promise me you'll tell them!" She ordered weakly as she looked into Emily's eyes.

Emily stared right back into JJ's eyes, "I promise."

JJ gave a soft smile and then her world went dark again.

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Dave awoke in much the same way as his wife did, although his pain was in his left shoulder and it was Hotch that was shouting at him to wake up. Finally deciding to follow his boss's order, Dave opened his eyes.

"Hotch? What happened?" He asked.

"You don't remember?" The unit chief asked him, looking concerned. He looked at Reid, and the young genius began looking into the older man's eyes for evidence of a head injury. He had fallen backwards pretty hard and there was always a chance he had cracked his head.

"Remember what?" Dave asked and then the memories came flooding back to him. Jennifer had been shot, a red stain growing in the center of her blouse, and then another shot, this time for him.

Hotch saw the look of dawning in his friend's eyes and tightened his grip on the older man.

"I've got to get to Jennifer!" He said as he struggled to sit up. Gunshot wound or not, Dave was a strong man, made even more so at the thought of his wife in trouble, and it took both Hotch and Reid to keep him lying on the ground.

"Lay back down Dave, you've been shot for Christ's sake!" Aaron ordered.

"I don't give a flying fuck, I want to see my wife!" He shouted, still struggling.

"The best thing you can do is stay here, you don't want to make your injury worse do you? Because let me tell you, I'll be damned if I'm the one who has to tell your wife that you're dead because you wouldn't let us help you!" As he said this, Hotch tightened his grip on his friend, who was _still_ struggling to get up.

"It's a minor gunshot wound, a through and through. I'm fine!" Dave snarled.

"I'm sorry, did I miss the part where you got a medical degree?" Hotch asked him. "Should we, in fact, be calling you Dr. Rossi? Because unless you have an MD behind your name, you're not going _anywhere_! We're going to wait for the nice paramedics to come and take you to the hospital so you can see a _real_ doctor and get patched up." The unit chief knew he sounded like an asshole, baiting his wounded colleague that way, but he also knew that it was the only type of conversation that Rossi would respond to in this situation, and he was right.

Some of the fight went out of Dave as Aaron spoke. He knew his friend wasn't going to let him up and he wanted to conserve his energy because even though he was _sure_ his gunshot wound wasn't serious, it was starting to hurt like a bitch and the pain was making everything fuzzy.

"How is she Hotch?" He asked quietly.

"I don't know Dave," Hotch said in the same tone, "Derek and Emily are with her."

"She's alive, Agent Rossi," Reid said.

"How do you know that Reid?" Hotch wondered if the young genius could add lip reading to his impressive collection of skills.

"Because Emily and Derek are talking to her. I can't hear what they're saying, since they're on the other side of the platform, but JJ is definitely responding back." Spencer's words helped to alleviate a little of Rossi's fear and anxiety. Things were bad, but they could be much worse. He could work with alive, he could cling to alive and he could maintain hope that everything would be all right with alive. That feeling of hope was still in his mind as he finally passed back out again.


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 23

**~Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing! Updates may come quicker than normal over the next couple of days...classes start soon and I want to get as much of this story posted as I can before I go back to school.**

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Abby stared at the TV in horror for another few seconds before the entire screen went black.

She looked over at Gibbs who was holding the TV remote. "What are you doing? Turn it back on!" She screamed as she reached for her cell phone and began dialing the various members of the BAU team.

Gibbs shook his head, "No way!"

"Gibbs, what the hell are you doing? I need to know what's going on!" Abby cried as she willed one of the team members to answer their damn phones.

"Right now there is going to be a bunch of speculation about what happened. There are going to be conflicting reports and a lot of guesswork and you don't need to hear that, Abs!" He didn't add that if her parents actually were dead, he didn't want her finding out about it via network news.

"I don't care! Those are my PARENTS and I need to know what's going on!" She was surprised to hear the panic in her own voice.

"And I'm going to do my very best to find out how they're doing," he said calmly. Seeing that she was on the verge of a total meltdown, Gibbs grabbed her upper arms and looked her in the eye. "Abby, I promise you that once I find out anything, I'll let you know, good or bad, but sitting here watching the talking heads speculate about what happened to your parents isn't going to help you."

"I have to know Gibbs," she said quietly, her voice trembling.

"I know you do and I'm going to try and get answers for you quickly. Right now, you need to go upstairs and pack, as fast as possible," he said, releasing her arms.

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to try to get us on the next available flight to New York, so you need to be ready to go."

Abby took a deep breath and nodded, she knew her parents wouldn't want her freaking out, they would want her to be strong. She got up from the couch and bolted up the stairs, the feeling of panic still right at the surface. She grabbed her duffel bag and as she hastily began throwing clothes into it, she heard Gibbs barking orders into his phone downstairs. She kept on calling the various BAU team members but all of her calls went to voicemail. Once her duffel bag was packed, she shakily gathered up the rest of her stuff and shoved it into her book bag. Once that was packed, she flew down the stairs to see if Gibbs had found anything out about her parents.

"Did you hear anything?" She demanded, once he had ended his phone call.

He nodded, "They're alive. From what my contacts told me, they were both shot and no one knows how bad it is yet, but they're alive."

Abby exhaled deeply, "They're alive?" She whispered, unable to stop the tears from streaming down her face.

Gibbs pulled her into his arms, "They're alive," he repeated and then realeased her. "Are you all packed?" Abby nodded. "Good, we're on a flight to New York that leaves Regan National in less than an hour, so we have to hurry." He picked up her duffel bag and led her to the door. Minutes later, they were racing towards the airport.

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"No one TOUCHES me until my wife has been taken care of!" Rossi bellowed, almost slugging the male nurse who was trying to remove his shirt. "All of you people, get out of my room and go help my wife!" Dave was not used to waiting for information and he was sure as _hell_ not used giving up control to other people, but that seemed to be the theme for the day. From the moment the bullet passed through his body, he'd had no control over what had happened. He had wanted to help Jennifer while they were waiting for the paramedics, but he hadn't been able to, he had wanted to ride in the same ambulance as her, but the paramedics wouldn't allow it and he'd wanted to be put in an exam room near her, but instead she was on the other side of the fucking ER! Rossi didn't like this feeling of helplessness, and he was able to take back some of the control by ordering the medical personnel out of his room. If he could have, he would have gotten off of the ER bed and gone to Jennifer's room, but he knew Hotch was just outside the door making phone calls and if he tried, he had no doubt his friend would act upon his earlier threat of handcuffing him to the bed. Instead Dave replayed the entire shooting in slow motion in his mind; he couldn't get the image of his wife falling to the ground out of his head, and he knew he never would. He sat up quickly as Hotch entered his room.

"Well, do you have anything, or are you coming in here to berate me for kicking the medical personnel out of my room?" He asked.

"Both," Hotch told him.

"How's Jennifer?" Dave asked, holding his breath. Usually he could read his friend's expression, but not today. He couldn't tell if Hotch had good news or bad news.

He pulled up a chair and sat beside his friend's bed. "They got her stabilized down here in the ER and they just took her up to surgery. The doctor I talked to said it would be a long surgery, but that's all he told me before he joined the surgical team in the elevator."

"Okay," Dave said, taking a breath. "What do you mean 'they got her stabilized' down here? Was she not stable beforehand?"

Hotch didn't want to answer his friend's question, but knew he had to. "Dave, they lost her in the ambulance. They got her back after a minute, but I guess her vital signs were all over the place when she got to the ER."

Dave didn't hear anything past 'they lost her in the ambulance.' Dear God, his wife had actually _died_ today! That thought alone was enough to make his brain start shutting down, and he started to blackout.

"Dave? Dave!" Hotch yelled, and he came back to full consciousness. "Jesus Dave, I think you took a year off my life just now. I'm going to go get a doctor." Before he could stop him, Hotch went into the hallway to let the staff know they could safely enter Rossi's room. He stepped back into the room and found his friend wiping tears from his eyes.

"She's a fighter Dave, and she'll fight like hell to come back to you and Abby. Don't give up hope," Hotch told him.

"You're right Aaron, God knows she has to be a fighter since she's married to me, and God knows she has my same stubborn streak."

"Speaking of stubborn, I tried getting in touch with Agent Gibbs so I could let him know what happened-"

"I don't want Abby knowing about this Hotch," Dave instructed. "I don't want her to worry until we have some news about Jennifer."

"Well, that's going to be a problem Dave; she already knows."

"God _dammit_! Who the fuck called her? Who the fuck couldn't keep their goddamn mouth shut? Was it-" Hotch interrupted his tirade.

"No one called her, she saw the press conference."

"Jesus," he breathed, "She saw everything?"

Hotch nodded, "She did."

"Fuck," Dave said quietly. He knew that watching both of her parents get shot on live TV was not going to do much for his daughter's psyche. Something like this could scar her for life.

"Anyway," Hotch continued, "Agent Gibbs' cell phone went directly to voice mail so I tried calling his team. One of the team members, an Agent McGee, told me that Gibbs and Abby are on their way here and should be landing in about half an hour." He said this over the din that had arisen from the medical personnel entering the exam room.

As the nurses cut his shirt off, Rossi thought about his daughter. As much as he didn't want her here under these circumstances, a large part of him needed to see her, to make sure she was okay, to protect her. He also wanted her to see that at least _one _ of her parents was okay.

"You're very lucky Agent Rossi," the doctor said, looking at the x-ray they had managed to get earlier, before he kicked everyone out of the room.

"How so?" Dave asked through clenched teeth. This 'doctor' looked like he was about twelve years old.

Still studying the x-ray, the doctor said, "It looks like the bullet wound is a through and through, meaning that it entered your upper shoulder and exited through your back."

"Hmmm, where have I heard that before?" Dave asked, looking at his best friend, who was squirming uncomfortably in his seat . "Oh yes, I think _I_ told you that when you wouldn't let me get up from the ground!"

"Yes, well," the doctor continued, "It doesn't appear to have hit anything other than muscle, so we'll get you fixed up and into a room upstairs in no time."

Dave shook his head, "No, no room, I am _not_ being admitted."

"Dave-" Hotch started, but Dave would have none of it.

"My daughter is coming Hotch and she needs to see that at least _one _of her parents is in one piece. Besides, once I get into one of those rooms, they'll dope me up with pain meds and I won't get any updates about Jennifer. No way, not gonna happen." If he could have, Dave would have crossed his arms over his chest, but since his left shoulder had a bullet wound going through it, he had to be content with giving everyone a blood curdling glare.

"Dave, I can take care of Abby when she gets here, or Garcia can. She's practically a daughter to me for Christ's sake!" Wounded or not, Hotch was ready to strangle his best friend.

"No! I'm going to be the one who comforts her and I'm going to be in that goddamn waiting room getting the same updates as the rest of you."

"Sir," the doctor interjected, "You're going to need massive amounts of antibiotics for this, not to mention you will need to have the wound cleaned periodically. Plus the pain-"

"I. Don't. Care!" Rossi said petulantly. "Give me pills for the antibiotics, give me Tylenol for the pain and give me…well, I'm not quite sure what to do about cleaning the wound, but I'm sure we can figure something out."

While the young doctor was tired of his patients disregarding his medical orders, he could tell that the older man on the exam table was truly worried about his wife and daughter. The doctor, Dr. Robinson, knew what had happened to the Agent and his wife earlier this evening and he could sympathize with him, as he was newly married with an infant daughter of his own. "All right Agent Rossi, I'm going to run a course of high potent, IV antibiotics through you right now while I patch you up, and then I want to see you at midnight, 600am, and noon for wound checks and more IV antibiotics." Seeing that Rossi was going to argue with him, the doctor spoke louder. "Each visit will take no more than half an hour; surely you can spare half an hour to take care of your own injury?"

Knowing his unit chief would physically confine him to a bed upstairs if he didn't agree to the doctor's terms, Rossi reluctantly nodded his head. "Good," Dr. Robinson said. "And if you miss _any _of those appointments, I swear to God I'll have psych come down and declare you incompetent and then we'll admit you against your will, and I'm sure your friend here would have no problem with that." Dave looked over at Hotch and saw him nodding his agreement at the doctor.

"Gunshot wound or not, you'd better tell them to bring a couple of guys," Rossi warned.

"Agent Rossi, we can do this the easy way or-"

"Fine, fine," Dave said, interrupting the doctor, "I'll come back down here every six hours. Happy?"

"No, but I suspect that's the best I'll get from you," Dr. Robinson said as gestured for the nurse to start the IV.

Wincing as the needle punctured the flesh on the back of his hand, Dave turned to Hotch. "Aaron, I'm sure this is going to take awhile. Will you go back to the waiting room and wait for Abby? Like you said before, she's practically your daughter and I want someone out there who will be strong for her until I can be there."

Hotch nodded, "Sure Dave, no problem. Your go bag is on the chair in the corner, so once they're done with you, you can put on a fresh shirt."

"Thanks Hotch, for everything," Dave said, gratefully.

"Sure thing, my friend."

As he walked down the hallway, Hotch could hear Dave berating the medical staff and he took it as a good sign.


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 24

**~Thanks to everyone who continues to review, it helps keep me motivated!**

**~Please keep fellow fanfic author JWynn and her family in your prayers, as she recently passed away.**

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Less than three hours after the shots were fired that took down her parents, Abby and Gibbs arrived in New York City. Because neither of them had any checked baggage, they were able to make it to the taxi stand in record time and they quickly hailed a cab to take them to the hospital. Ten minutes into the silent cab ride, Gibbs heard Abby mutter, "I hate this fucking city."

"What did you say?" He asked, shocked. He was surprised by her language usage since, while she had been staying with him, he hadn't heard anything worse than 'damn' or 'hell' come out of her mouth. He was also surprised that she hated the city so much. Most people loved New York City and thought it was one of the greatest places on earth.

"Nothing good ever happens in this damn place! If it were up to me, I would never set foot here!" Her voice went up during her mini-tirade, and Gibbs could tell she was on the verge of losing it, so he kept quiet and hoped she would hold on until they reached the hospital, as he had no idea what to do for a teenage girl having a meltdown. He was honestly surprised she was doing as well as she was. They had reached the airport with little time to spare, and they had made it to their plane just as the flight was beginning to board. Once inside the plane, the only complaint she made was about the speed of the passengers in finding their seats, but thankfully they had taken off on time and she had been okay during the flight.

He was relieved when the cab finally pulled up in front of St. Luke's-Roosevelt hospital. While on their way into the hospital, Gibbs called Aaron Hotchner to find out where everyone was and he was directed to the surgical waiting room on the sixth floor. Leading Abby into the elevator, he hit the button for the sixth floor and they quickly ascended.

As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, Abby immediately saw the BAU team in a large waiting room off to the side of the elevator. She quickly made her way into the room, with Gibbs following behind her.

"Uncle Aaron!" She called out and Hotch spun around to find his niece in the doorway, close to tears.

At the moment, Hotch was dealing with numerous situations. He had Strauss and the other higher ups at the Bureau demanding to know what happened to their two agents, one of whom brought great PR to the agency. He was trying to work with the local LEO's to find out who had shot his two agents. He was worried about his two friends who had been gunned down and he was trying to reassure his team about their colleague's conditions. All in all, he was exhausted and his mind was on overload, but once he saw his niece standing in the doorway, looking as if she was seconds away from falling apart, he knew he had to put everything else out of his mind for the next few minutes so he could be there for her.

"Abby," he said gently as he came over to her and gathered her into his arms. He looked over her head at Gibbs and nodded a silent thank you to the man. Gibbs returned the nod.

Abby, not knowing that a silent conversation was taking place above her, struggled to keep her tears at bay. She knew she needed to stay strong and she also knew that once she began crying, she would never stop. She took a deep breath and pulled away from her uncle.

"How are mom and dad? Where are they? Are they…" She couldn't finish her last question because her brain would not let her ask if her parents were dead.

"Both of your parents are alive, Abby. Your dad is down in the ER getting patched up, he had a somewhat minor gunshot wound, if there is such a thing, and he should be up here in an hour or so," he told her and watched as Abby gave a sigh of relief.

"Your mom…well, your mom's injury is more serious. Why don't you sit down and we'll talk about it." By this time, Garcia had gotten up and was standing next to her pseudo-niece.

"Come on honey, take a load off," she said, gesturing at the uncomfortable looking sofa. The rest of the team was sitting in chairs near the sofa. It was a large waiting area and they weren't alone, so they were staying together.

Before she could move towards the couch, Gibbs stopped her. "I gotta go Abs," he told her. "We're in the middle of an intense case and it looks like you're in good hands here."

Abby nodded and walked over to hug him. "Thanks for everything Gibbs," she said.

"Anytime Abs," he told her as he released her. "You call me if you need _anything_, understand?"

She nodded, "Got it Gibbs." With that, she allowed Garcia to put her arm around her shoulders and lead her to the sofa.

"How are you getting home, Agent Gibbs?" Hotch asked.

He shrugged, "I'll catch one of the shuttles back to National and have one of my team members pick me up."

"Thanks for your help with Abby; I'm sure it gave Dave and JJ peace of mind knowing you were watching out for her." Hotch put out his hand and Gibbs shook it.

"Take care of her Agent Hotchner; she's close to the edge. And make sure she gets something to eat; she hasn't eaten anything since lunch."

"I will," Hotch promised and then watched as Gibbs made his way back to the elevator. Taking a deep breath, he walked back into the waiting room and sat down in a chair across from Abby. As he sat, he took in his niece's appearance. She was disheveled and pale and she was still wearing her school uniform. While she tried to maintain an outwardly calm appearance, there was a frantic look in her eye and she was much more fidgety than usual. He could tell she was terrified, and rightfully so since she had seen both of her parents gunned down in broad daylight. He also felt her tremble when he hugged her and he knew Gibbs was right, she was close to the edge.

"What happened to mom?" Abby asked, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

"Let's talk about your dad first, okay?" He saw her nod, so he gave her a rundown on her dad's injury. "Dave was hit in his left shoulder. The wound was a through and through, which means the bullet went right through his shoulder muscle and didn't hit anything else before it exited his back. He didn't have much blood loss and, other than being cranky, he should be fine. The doctor wanted to admit him, but your dad put the kibosh on that, so he's going to be going down to the ER every six hours for IV antibiotics and wound checks."

She gave a faint smile, "So in other words, he's being as hard-headed and stubborn as ever, right?"

Hotch returned the smile, "Exactly. He was even intimidating the medical staff when I left."

"It sounds like he's okay then," she said and then her smile faded, "What about mom?

Hotch took a deep breath, "Your mom's injury was more severe; she was hit in the middle of her chest and the bullet didn't exit." He heard Abby gasp at this, but continued on. "The doctors got her stabilized in the ER and then rushed her into surgery. The doctor I talked to said the surgery would be a long one, but he promised that someone would come out and update us as often as they could."

Abby nodded and waited for him to continue. When he didn't, she asked, "What aren't you telling me?"

"What are you talking about?" Hotch asked, trying to play dumb.

"I can tell you're holding something back, what is it?"

The unit chief was amazed, he had a pretty good poker face, but his niece had seen right through him. "What makes you think I'm keeping something from you?"

She quirked an eyebrow and Hotch was amazed at how much she resembled both of her parents when she did that. "Hello? I live with a legendary profiler_ and _I've hung around all of you since I was ten. I can tell when someone's lying to me or hiding something from me, so what is it."

He smiled, "Have you ever thought of becoming a profiler when you're older? I think you'd be great at it," he told her, trying to deflect her question.

"Yeah, I'm sure my dad would _love_ that," she said and then looked her uncle straight in the eye. "Just tell me what happened, Uncle Aaron."

He knew he couldn't get out of it, so he told her. "They lost your mom in the ambulance Abby." Seeing the stricken look on the girl's face, Hotch grabbed her hand and spoke faster. "They got her back after a minute, but her vitals were erratic when she got to the ER."

"She…she…_died_?" Abby asked as a few tears trickled down her face.

"Just for a minute," Hotch tried to reassure her.

"Abby, you're mom is going to fight like hell in there!" Emily told her. "I was with her before the ambulance arrived, and all she could think of was you and your dad. She's not going to let a little old bullet take her down."

Abby laughed shakily, "Thanks Em," she said as she swiped at the tears on her face. After that, she settled against Penelope and began what they were all sure was going to be a long wait in the uncomfortable waiting area.


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 25

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The next hour passed quietly for Abby and the BAU team. Hotch was practically glued to his phone, fielding calls from fellow FBI agents, local LEO's and members of the press. It seemed that when one of his calls ended, he had another three to return. He seriously thought about chucking his phone out the window. Thankfully, he had confiscated Abby's cell phone, because when the press couldn't get a hold of him, they called her phone looking for a statement. One call like that had gotten through, but unluckily for the reporter calling, Garcia had answered the call and leveled numerous technological threats against him.

Abby spent the hour sitting on the uncomfortable couch, replaying the scene from the television over and over in her mind. It was her worst nightmare come true; both of her parents had been injured in the line of duty and they still weren't sure if her mother would live through her injuries. Not for the first time, she wished her parents had normal jobs like accountants and bus drivers. She smiled a little at the idea of her father driving a bus full of kids to school; he would probably last twenty minutes before he completely lost his mind. Thankfully for her, Garcia was sitting next to her with her arm around her, and when she got too lost in her thoughts, the normally cheerful woman would pull her from them by asking her an inane question about her day.

At around eight that night, a woman wearing scrubs entered the waiting room. "Rossi family?"

Everyone jumped to their feet and the woman clarified, "Abigail Rossi?"

Abby stepped forward, "That's me. How are my parents?"

The woman gave her a sympathetic look, "I don't know honey, I'm from the blood bank. Abigail, do you know your blood type?"

She nodded, "I'm A negative, at least that's what they told me at the school blood drive."

"And when was that?" The nurse asked.

"About four months ago, why?"

"We got word from the surgeon that your mother is having a little trouble tolerating the blood transfusions. Now normally this isn't a big deal but with the severity of your mother's injury, it's cause for concern.," the nurse told her gently.

"Oh God," Abby moaned.

"But there's good news; your mother is also A negative, which means you can donate to her. Since you're close family, the makeup of your blood and your mother's blood are similar, so it should help her tolerate the transfusions better."

"Do it, do it now! Take all the blood you need from me!" Abby said, ready to follow the nurse anywhere if it would help her mother.

"How old are you honey?" The nurse asked.

"Seventeen," she replied, wondering where this was leading.

The nurse shook her head, "In that case, we'll need parental consent."

"But my mom is in surgery and my dad is in the ER getting fixed up from his _own_ gunshot wound!" Abby wailed.

Hotch stepped in, "In the event that both Jennifer and David Rossi are incapacitated, I retain full guardianship and medical power of attorney over Abigail," he said, reaching into his briefcase. He sorted through some papers, and pulled out the correct ones and handed them to the nurse.

The nurse skimmed them over, while everyone else looked at Hotch in astonishment. "What?" He asked.

"You just _happened_ to have those papers with you?" Emily asked.

Hotch nodded, "All of you have granted me medical power of attorney over you in case you are unable to make medical decisions and I have those papers as well. It's called 'being prepared'."

"Man, is there anything you don't think of?" Morgan asked, shaking his head.

"I hope not," Hotch replied.

The nurse finished reading the papers, "Okay Mr. Hotchner, I guess the decision is yours. Will you allow Abigail to donate blood for her mother?"

He nodded, "Of course, but how much blood are we talking about?"

"We'll start with one unit and then if Abigail tolerates it, we might take another one."

Hotch shook his head, "One unit, that's it. If she does okay with that, then we'll see about her donating another one tomorrow."

Abby glared at him, "Uncle Aaron! Let me donate two! One isn't going to be enough!" She couldn't believe her uncle was limiting the amount of help to her mother. If it was up to her, Abby would give her all of her blood.

"No way. You're exhausted, you've had a great shock and you haven't eaten in over eight hours; you need to regain your strength before you give more than one pint of blood."

She was about to further argue with her uncle when the nurse cut in, "Your uncle is right Abigail, you need to take it slowly. Besides, one unit will be enough; they'll just mix your blood with the other blood. Don't worry, every little bit will help."

"Okay," Abby said reluctantly.

"I'm coming with you, sweetie," Garcia said, remembering the girl's fear of needles.

"So am I," Hotch said, knowing that if he didn't go along with her, she would probably con them into taking an additional unit of her blood. He also didn't want her going anywhere without an armed agent until they figured out exactly what had happened to her parents.

As Abby and Garcia made their way to the elevator with the nurse, Hotch handed Morgan his phone. "Here, I need a break. Would you please field a couple of the calls that will inevitably come in?"

Derek, knowing that Hotch was dealing with a lot at the moment, readily agreed. "Would you also call a nearby restaurant and have them deliver something for dinner?" He asked. "Gibbs said that Abby hasn't eaten since lunch, and I know the rest of us haven't either and Dave will need some food in his system in order to keep his strength up."

"No problem Hotch, you go do what you need to do," Morgan told him.

"Thanks. If you need me, call me on Abby's phone, I still have it in my pocket." He heard the elevator arrive at their floor and dashed off to catch it so he could ride with the women.

Once in the blood collection room, the nurse ran through the standard series of blood donation questions and then put Abby on a cot. Once she was all set up, she came at Abby with the needle and she gripped her uncle's hand so hard, he thought she may have broken a finger. The entire time the nurse was setting up for the donation, Abby kept reminding herself that she was doing this to save her mother's life.

While she was actually giving blood, Hotch and Penelope kept asking her mindless questions about her stay with Gibbs, in order to keep her mind off of the blood that was draining from her and to keep her from worrying about her mother. Hotch had been right to come along; as soon as he took a call from Derek, Abby tried talking the nurse into taking an additional unit of her blood, but Garcia put a stop to that.

After she gave her blood, Abby was feeling somewhat woozy and the nurses plied her with sugar cookies and Sunny Delight in order to boost her blood sugar. She began feeling better soon after, and she was ready to get back to the waiting room, but there was a call she needed to make first.

As they stood up to leave the room, she turned to Hotch. "Can I have my phone for a minute, Uncle Aaron?"

He frowned, "I don't want you to have to deal with all of the calls that have been coming into it."

"I won't," she promised. "I just need to make a quick call."

"Who are you calling?"

"Grandfather Jareau," she told him. "As much as mom hates him, he's her father and if they need blood from family members, he's it. I know for a fact that he has A negative blood and mom needs all the help she can get."

Hotch thought for a minute, she did have a point, but he didn't want his niece to have to deal with her uncaring grandfather at the moment. "Why don't _I_ call him?"

She shook her head, "No, he probably hates you and God knows how he feels about dad. Out of everyone, I'm probably the one he dislikes the least."

Hotch pondered this for a moment, nodded in agreement and reluctantly handed over her phone. She took it and then looked at the two adults, "A little privacy please?"

There was no way Hotch was leaving her alone, so he told her, "We'll wait for you at the elevator, but don't go past the end of the hallway."

"Fine," she said as she moved away from them. She stopped at the end of the hallway and scrolled through her address book. Finding her grandfather's number, she hit the send key and closed her eyes. He picked up on the second ring.

"Hello?" He said in the same stern voice she remembered from her childhood.

"Grandfather Jareau?"

There was a pause, "Abigail," he responded tightly.

"Mom's been shot," she said, waiting for a reaction. When there was none, she plowed ahead with the rest of the story. "She's in New York and it's pretty bad and she needs blood. Her body is having trouble processing the donated blood and she needs blood from family members. I already gave a pint, but they need more."

There was silence, "Are you there?" Abby asked, worried that the call had dropped.

"I'm still here Abigail. Thank you for letting me know about your mother's condition," he said politely.

"So when should we expect to see you here? We're at St. Luke's-Roosevelt hospital."

"I won't be coming Abigail. Your mother made it very clear that she doesn't want me in her life anymore," her grandfather told her.

"But she's your daughter!" Abby screeched, loud enough for Garcia and Hotch to hear it and they hurried down the hallway.

"She made her bed and now she can lie in it."

"But she needs your help! You are the only other person besides me who can help her, are you really going to just sit there and do nothing?" Abby knew her grandfather was an asshole, she just never realized how much of one he actually was.

"Is there anything else Abigail? If not, I have to be going, I have a trial in the morning and I need to prepare for it."

That's when Abby lost it a little. "Fuck you grandfather Jareau!" She yelled. "I hope you rot in hell, you horrible son of a bitch! If mom dies, it'll be your fault! I hope-" It was at that point that Hotch plucked the phone from her hand and ended the call.

"He's not coming!" She told them, somewhat hysterically. "I always knew he was an awful person, but to not help his daughter by giving her his blood? What kind of father _does_ that?" She asked, still hysterical.

"Abby, it's going to be all right," Garcia said, pulling the distraught teenager into her arms. "Your mom is going to be okay with or without his blood."

"You don't KNOW that Penelope!" Abby shouted, still in the technical analysts arms.

"I DO know that, cupcake! There is _nothing _your mother wouldn't do for you, including living through a gunshot wound! You need to remember that and forget about your asshole grandfather! Everything is going to be okay." Garcia gradually felt her begin to relax and then she pulled out of her embrace.

"Thanks Pen," she said, wiping her face.

"Any time honey," she said. "Now let's go back upstairs and see what my chocolate god ordered for dinner."

"I'm really not hungry Pen," Abby said as they began the walk to the elevator.

"You_ are_ going to eat something Abby," Hotch said, in a voice that left no room for argument. Abby nodded silently next to him as they stepped into the elevator. They quickly rose to the sixth floor and stepped out. As soon as they were out of it, Abby spotted her father in the surgical waiting room. He was standing near the couch, talking to Derek, and his left arm was in a sling.

"DAD!" Abby cried, running into the room. She ran up to him and ferociously hugged him, being careful of his left shoulder.

"Pumpkin," he said tenderly, hugging her with his right arm. Hearing him use her nickname released something inside of Abby and she began to sob into his shoulder. Keeping his arm around her, he led her over to the couch, where they both sat down. Once seated, Dave pulled her close to him and she resumed her crying into his shoulder. A part of her wondered if she would ever stop.

Even though he didn't want her to have to go through this, Dave was happy and relieved to see his daughter. It was nice to see one member of his family who wasn't physically hurt and it was a relief knowing she was safe. Feeling Abby's tears begin to soak through his shirt, Dave held her tighter and motioned to Hotch over her head.

Hotch took the hint and said quietly, "Let's give them a little privacy guys." The team members nodded and stepped across to the other side of the large room.

After a few minutes, Abby's tears subsided, her breathing slowed and she finally looked up at her father. "Feel better Pumpkin?" He asked gently. She nodded, wiping at her face with her hands.

"How are _you _doing?" She asked worriedly as she looked at his sling. She could tell by the bulkiness of his shirt that there were bandages wrapped all around his shoulder.

"I'm okay Abby, it was just a flesh wound."

"When I saw it all on TV, I thought you…I thought you were…" She couldn't finish her thought.

"I know honey, but I'm fine. Besides, it'll take more than a bullet to kill me," he told her.

"Did you hear about mom?" She asked, wondering how much they told him in the ER.

Dave swallowed hard and nodded, "I did, but she's going to be okay Abby, you have to believe that."

"But what if she isn't?" She asked, a note of hysteria creeping back into her voice. "What if she _dies_?" As she voiced the question, Abby's tears started again.

"Listen to me Abigail; your mother is the strongest person I know, and she has a _ton_ to live for! She's going to fight to come back to us, you just have to have faith that she'll make it through this." Dave believed his words but, like his daughter, he was terrified his wife would die and he wasn't sure what he would do if that happened.

Abby nodded, "Okay dad."

The rest of the team, seeing them talking, returned to their little corner of the waiting room, this time bearing bags of Chinese food. They set them down on the small table nearby and started setting the containers out. Hotch, seeing his niece's tear stained face, silently handed her a handkerchief, which she was grateful for, and then he tried handing both Abby and Dave containers of food.

"Thanks Hotch, but I'm not hungry," Dave said, pushing the food away.

"Me neither," Abby said.

"Too bad," Hotch said, handing the food back to them. "It's been almost ten hours since anyone has eaten and Dave, you've been shot and need to keep your strength up, and Abby, you just gave a pint of blood, so I don't care if we have to force feed you, you both are going to finish every last bite in those containers. Got it?"

Dave smiled, "Jeez Hotch, when did you turn into such a bossy bastard?" He got the patented 'Hotchner Glare' in return, so he said, "Fine, fine, I'll eat everything here."

"Me too," Abby said, accepting some chopsticks from Reid.

They were in the middle of dinner when a tired looking doctor in surgical scrubs entered the room.

"Jennifer Rossi's family?"


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 26

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Everyone in their small corner of the waiting room stood up. "That's us," Dave said, feeling his heart stop. This doctor had news about his Jennifer and for the life of him, he couldn't read his expression.

As she stood, Abby noticed faint streaks of blood on the doctor's scrubs and she couldn't take her eyes off of them; she knew it was her mother's blood she was looking at and she was transfixed by it.

The doctor looked at everyone assembled before him, "I'm looking for Agent Rossi's immediate family."

Dave stepped forward, "I'm her husband and this is our daughter," he gestured to Abby, who was still staring at the surgeon's scrubs. "However, anything you tell us, we're going to tell these people here," he said gesturing to the rest of the team, "So you might as well tell all of us and save me from having to relay it."

"How's mom? Is the surgery over with?" Abby finally found her voice, and she clutched her father's hand like a lifeline.

"She's still in surgery, I'm just here with an update. Why don't we all sit down and I'll explain what's happening," the tired doctor said, sitting in one of the chairs facing Dave and Abby. The rest of the team gathered around them.

"As you know, Jennifer was shot in the chest. The bullet didn't exit her body, which means it ricocheted around in her body. It bounced off of a couple of ribs and hit mostly muscle, which was actually very lucky for Jennifer. One thing the bullet did do was nick the pulmonary artery."

"What does that mean?" Dave asked, gripping his daughter's hand just as tightly as she was gripping his.

The doctor explained, "While the pulmonary artery was nicked, it didn't rupture right away, instead it was more of a slow leak. On the way to the hospital though, the artery did rupture and that is when Jennifer lost her heartbeat; the shock to her system was too great and her heart shut down. The paramedics were able to revive her by shocking her heart, but because of the rapid blood loss, her vital signs were erratic in the ER."

"How in the hell did it rupture on the way to the hospital?" Dave asked gruffly.

"Any number of things could have caused the rupture, but our best guess is that the ambulance hit a bump or something similar happened and the weakened blood vessel finally gave out." He saw the man's dark look, "Believe me sir, it was going to rupture regardless and if it had ruptured at the scene of the shooting, well…we would be having a much different conversation right now."

"So…is she going to be okay?" Abby asked.

The surgeon looked at her, "Your mother's condition is very serious. The injury to the artery, along with the blood loss and other injuries from the bullet, made the surgery touch and go for awhile." As she heard the words, Abby couldn't stop the tears from once again coursing down her face, and she saw that Pen was in tears as well.

"But," the doctor continued, "the head surgeon is cautiously optimistic that she will survive the surgery. So far we've located and removed the bullet, we've repaired most of the other internal damage and we currently have the bleeding under control. Now it's just a matter of repairing the pulmonary artery and that is going to take awhile. As of right now we're probably looking at at least four more hours of surgery."

Dave blanched, _four_ hours? They hadn't been kidding when they told Hotch it would be a long surgery.

The surgeon looked at his watch, "I have to get back in there. Once the surgery is finished, the head surgeon will come out to talk to you. He will be able to answer all of your questions." With that, the doctor got up from the chair and left the room.

Everyone was stunned, they all knew JJ's injury had been serious and they all had their own fears that she might not live through the surgery, but to hear the doctor vocalize those fears had shocked all of them.

One of the volunteer waiting room attendants had overheard the last part of the surgeon's update and approached the group of agents. "If you all would like to go and get some sleep, you can leave your phone numbers with me and I'll call you once the surgery is finished."

Hotch thanked the volunteer and told her they would let her know if they needed her services. She nodded and left and then Hotch addressed his team. "I think she had an excellent idea; we all need some sleep, so why don't we go back to the hotel for a couple of hours."

As he expected, everyone in the room looked at him as though he had lost his mind. "Are you fucking kidding me Hotch? It would take a goddamn bomb to get me out of here, and even then it would have to be a pretty powerful one!" Dave told him. Abby nodded her agreement with her father.

"Sorry bossman, I'm staying right here until I know my Cupcake is okay," Garcia told him and Hotch didn't press the issue with her because he liked having an electronic identity.

He saw the rest of the team members shake their heads and sighed, he didn't want to make this an order but he had no choice. "Okay, Prentiss and Reid, I want the two of you to go back to the hotel to sleep. You can come back here in three and a half hours, but not a minute before then." Seeing them open their mouths to argue, he pressed on. "This is a direct order. Everyone here has been running on fumes for the last few days and I know for a fact that the two of you pulled an all-nighter last night, after I clearly ordered everyone to get some sleep. You need to rest. Morgan and I will stay here with Garcia, Dave and Abby and we'll call you if we hear anything."

Emily and Spencer grumbled as they gathered their things. "Why don't you go with them, Pumpkin?" Dave suggested. "You could get a couple hours of sleep and then come back here somewhat refreshed."

Abby looked at him as though he had grown an eye in the middle of his forehead. "Are you kidding?" She asked him incredulously.

"No, I think a few hours of uninterrupted sleep would be good for you," he said, knowing he was fighting a losing battle.

"Did they remove your brain in the ER?" She asked. "Do you really think I'd be able to sleep knowing mom is in surgery, that she could…" Abby trailed off, not wanting to verbalize the last part.

"Okay, okay, it was just a suggestion," Dave said, holding up his right hand in surrender.

"Leave here…he's crazy…not going anywhere," Abby mumbled under her breath as she got up to go to the drinking fountain.

Dave grinned as he heard his daughter's mutterings, and then he took his first good look around the room. Along with the various families waiting for news on their loved ones, Dave noticed a lot of cops in the room trying to be unobtrusive. He knew it was standard for the boys in blue to pay their respects after a shooting, but there were quite a few of them present and it struck Dave as odd that so many of them would be there this long after the shooting.

"Take a walk with me Hotch?" Dave said casually, he didn't want his daughter to know that anything was up.

"Sure," Hotch said, just as casually. He had caught the older profiler's eye, and he knew something was on his mind.

"Are you okay?" Abby asked worriedly. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"I'm fine honey, I just need to get some air. You stay here and try to sleep." Seeing the look on her face, he knew she was about to protest his suggestion, so he held up his right hand, "At least try and doze on the couch," he told her.

"I'll try, but I doubt it will happen," she said, taking off her hoodie and stuffing it under her head as a makeshift pillow.

Dave and Hotch headed for the door and Hotch motioned Derek to follow them. Once outside the room, Hotch said, "I want you to stick to them like glue, Derek. Wherever Abby goes, you go, got it?"

"Got it Hotch."

"I mean it Morgan, if you have to take a piss, you'd better use the ladies room, because I want them right there beside you as you're doing it."

"I've _got it_ Hotch, I won't leave either one of them for a second, you have my word," Derek reassured him.

Hotch gave a tense nod and then he and Dave walked to the elevator.

Once outside, Dave took a deep breath and then turned to his friend. "What the fuck is with all of the hardware in the waiting room? There must over a dozen of New York City's finest in there! What gives?"

Hotch motioned his friend over to a bench, and they both sat down. "I'm just being cautious," he said, trying to avoid the question. God knew his friend didn't need any more stress heaped upon him that night.

"Why are you being cautious?" On any other night, Dave would have made the connection between the shootings and the weaponry in the waiting room, but after all he'd been through that evening, he needed Hotch to spell it out for him.

"You and JJ were the only ones shot today, no other shots were fired other than the ones that hit the both of you. It seems more than coincidental that the two people on the team who are married to each other were the only ones shot, doesn't it?"

Dave's brain slowly made the connections, "You think Jen and I were intentional targets? You don't think it was a random shooting?"

Hotch shook his head, "Think about it Dave, why take the two of you down? JJ I could understand, she was the biggest target at the podium, but you were standing next to the police chief and mayor. Why not shoot them instead? Why not shoot more people than the two of you? The whole team was up there, but only two shots were fired."

The light suddenly went on in Dave's head, "Jesus! That means Jen could still be a target!"

Hotch nodded, "I know, that's why I have cops stationed outside of the operating room and that's why there are so many in the waiting room."

Another realization hit Dave, "You think Abby could be a target! That's why you had Derek stay behind with them and that's why you want him to stick to them!"

The unit chief could hear the hysteria enter Dave's voice and he knew that was the last thing the man needed. "I'm not sure Dave, right now I'm not sure what _any_ of this is, all I know is that we're better safe than sorry. Until we know exactly what happened today, I'm putting guards around JJ's room, in the waiting room and at the hotel where we're all staying. Hell, I even have a couple of DC cops out front of my house watching over Jack, just to be on the safe side!" He paused for a minute and then asked, "What about your mother, Dave? Do you want me to put guards outside of her house as well?"

Dave shook his head, No, she's in Italy right now, so she should be safe. I _don't _want her knowing about any of this until we have some definitive news to give her." He thought for a minute and then dropped his face into his hands, "God, today turned into one giant clusterfuck, didn't it?"

Hotch nodded his agreement, "But it could have been worse, it could have been much worse."

Dave looked up at him, "You heard the doctor Aaron, it could still _get_ much worse."

Not knowing what to say, Hotch stood up. "Come on, let's get back to the waiting room; I'm sure Abby will sleep better knowing you're there."

Dave slowly got up and followed his boss back into the hospital. He wondered if anything would ever be okay again.


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 27

**~Sorry for the delay in posting. I forgot I had a friend coming through town and I spent the last couple of days showing her the sights.**

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The next few hours were agonizingly slow for Dave. When he and Aaron returned from their chat outside, he found his daughter curled up and asleep on the sofa; she was using her hoodie as a blanket and one of Garcia's legs as a pillow. Dave sighed in relief, he was glad that his daughter was getting at least a little bit of sleep. Almost as soon as he thought that, Abby shot up into a sitting position with a gasp. It looked like she was barely holding back a scream.

He rushed to her side, "What is it Pumpkin?"

"Bad dream," she said, trying to slow her breathing down. Dave put his good arm around her and could feel her shaking.

"About today?" He asked and felt her nod into his chest. He felt awful that she had seen the shooting happen live, and for the millionth time he cursed himself for calling her right before the press conference. If he had waited, she never would have seen it. He felt her pull away from him, and he smoothed her hair back off of her face. "Why don't you lay back down and try to go back to sleep?"

She shook her head, "I think I'm done with sleep for awhile."

He wanted to push the issue with her, but he knew what it was like to have a nightmare and the fear that it would pick up where it left off once sleep returned, so he let it go. He watched as she picked up her duffle bag, rifled through it and produced her hair brush, toothpaste and her toothbrush. She got up, stretched and took a step toward the door.

"Where are you going?" He asked sharply.

Abby gave him a surprised look, "I have to use the bathroom and I want to brush my hair and teeth."

Garcia, who had been appraised of the situation by Derek, also got up. "I'll go with you."

Derek got up as well, "Me too."

Abby gave them a curious look, "I can manage it by myself guys, I have been since I was about five years old." What she really wanted was a moment alone, so she could clear her head and think about things without other people watching her in concern. Unfortunately, privacy was not on the agenda for her.

"I have to go too, Abby," Garcia lied.

"Yeah, and my legs could use some stretching," Derek added.

Something was up, but Abby didn't care. "Fine, the more the merrier I guess," she said as the three of them left the room.

Once they were out of earshot, Hotch turned to Dave. "You're not telling her?"

"What, that her mother and I might have been intentional targets? That there might still be a threat against us? That she may also be a potential target? No, I'm not going to tell her. For Christ's sake, she saw both of her parents gunned down less than six hours ago. She thought we were both dead for at least fifteen minutes, she's wondering if her mother will live through the night and she sees me all bandaged up and looking ragged. She doesn't need that additional worry right now. I'll tell her only if it becomes absolutely necessary."

Hotch nodded, "Okay, I'll pass the word along to Prentiss and Reid."

"Thanks Hotch; I know I'll probably have to tell her sometime, but I don't want to overload her right now."

xxxxxxxxxx

At quarter to midnight, Hotch stood up and looked at his friend, "Come on, it's time to go back to the ER."

Dave looked at the clock and groaned, "Fuck! The absolute _last_ thing I want to do is go down to that goddamn zoo that's masquerading as an emergency room! I'm going to stay up here until we get more news about Jen, and then I'll go down for treatment."

Hotch shook his head, "No way, you need your antibiotics and I have no doubt if you don't show up, Dr. Robinson will make good on his threat and have you admitted on a psych hold."

Abby had overheard this and snorted with laughter at the thought of her father being carried out of the ER in a straight jacket. Dave gave her a mock glare, but he wasn't really mad at her. "Okay smartass, wanna come with us?" Even though he knew Derek would watch over her, Dave didn't want to let her out of her sight. Most of it was raw fear at the idea of her being a target, but part of it was also a clinginess on his part.

Hearing her father's invitation, Abby thought about it for a minute; it would be nice to get a change of scenery, even if it was an urban ER. It would also be refreshing to hear a doctor speak without using scary terms like 'cautiously optimistic,' and 'touch and go.' Plus, she wanted to find out just how bad her father's injury was. Part of her was afraid he wasn't telling her the whole truth, so as not to further frighten her, and she wanted to make sure that he shouldn't be in a hospital bed. She finally nodded and stood up.

"You realize you're going to owe the swear jar like five hundred dollars when we get home, right?" Abby asked as she, her father and her uncle walked towards the elevator.

Dave took her hand and squeezed it, "I think we can suspend the swear jar until this is over. Agreed?"

Abby nodded, "Agreed."

The three of them stepped into the elevator and descended to the ER. Once they stepped into the area, they could see it was a madhouse, which was to be expected on a Friday night. Groaning, Dave turned to Hotch. "Fuck this Aaron! It's going to take _hours_ to be seen here! Let's just go back upstairs and wait for news about Jen."

The unit chief shook his head, "Nope, let's get you checked in," he said as he led Dave and Abby to the triage desk. He waited for the nurse to acknowledge him and then he flashed his credentials. "Hi, David Rossi needs to check in for his appointment with Dr. Robinson."

The nurse glanced at a post-it note that was near her computer screen. "Dr. Robinson has been expecting you," she said as she pushed a button. "You can go back to exam room 4A." As the nurse spoke, the door to the patient area of the ER opened.

Surprised, Hotch said a word of thanks and then the three of them went back. If the waiting area had been a madhouse, then the patient area was nothing short of mayhem. There were medical personnel running in and out of rooms, there was screaming coming from the various trauma areas and doctors were shouting orders left and right. Hotch and Dave put Abby between them as they walked to the assigned exam room.

Surprisingly, the doctor came into the room only a few minutes later and he was carrying an IV bag. "Agent Rossi, you're right on time. I suspect I can thank your boss for that," he said as he hung the bag on a pole. "This must be your daughter," he said as he grabbed a large needle…too large for Dave's taste. He might not share in his daughter's fear of needles, but the doctor was holding one that looked like the size of a sink pipe.

"Abby, meet Dr. Robinson. He's the doctor that took care of me this afternoon," Dave said, his nervousness growing as the doctor felt around for a vein in the crook of his arm. "Thanks for seeing me so quickly, Doc."

The doctor rolled his eyes, "I knew if you had to wait out there for a couple of hours, you wouldn't come for treatment and you need these antibiotics."

"Dr. Robinson, can you tell me exactly what happened to my dad?" Abby asked.

The doctor looked at Dave, who nodded his permission, and then gave an in-depth explanation of Dave's injuries while he slid the needle into his vein and set the drip rate of the IV. After talking to the doctor, Abby was reassured that her father wasn't keeping anything from her and she breathed a sigh of relief when she and Hotch stepped out of the room so the doctor could clean his wound.

As they waited in the hallway, Hotch's exhaustion got the better of him and he yawned widely. He had hoped his pseudo-niece hadn't noticed, but she did. "Jeez Uncle Aaron, you've got to be just as tired as the rest of us, probably even more so! Maybe _you_ should go back to the hotel and try to get some sleep?"

He gave her a look, "That's not happening Abby, not until I know your mother's okay, and probably not for awhile after that."

She knew he had been dealing with the fallout from the shooting, and he had been taking care of her and her father, so she knew he was running on fumes himself. "But Uncle Aaron, you've-" Abby's train of thought derailed as she looked through the glass doors that led out of the ER and into the lobby of the hospital. Standing at the information desk was her grandfather. Without thinking, she headed for the door, only to be stopped by her uncle.

"I don't want you going anywhere by yourself," he said, torn. He was responsible for his unarmed friend in the exam cubicle, a friend who had already been a possible target once that day, and then he was also responsible for his, niece who was also a potential target, _and _she wanted to talk to her emotionally abusive grandfather. He didn't know which of the two of them needed the most protection.

Abby looked at Hotch, "I'm just going through that door, you'll be able to see me the entire time." She saw him look at her grandfather warily, "I promise I'll stay where you can see me, but I _have _to talk to him, he's my grandfather!"

"Okay," he said reluctantly. He watched as she walked through the door and he prayed that her grandfather wouldn't say anything to make her feel worse.

Abby was apprehensive as she stepped through the door to the lobby, but then she saw her grandfather turn away from the information desk and start for the exit.

"Grandfather Jareau!" She called out and was relieved when the man stopped and turned around. She jogged up to him, making sure she was still within her uncle's line of sight, and then stopped. "What are you doing here?" She asked, confused. Her grandfather had made it crystal clear that he wasn't interested in helping her mother.

"I came to give your mother some of my blood," he told her.

"Really?" Abby practically whispered, as tears pricked her eyes. Her grandfather nodded coolly. "Thank you," she said softly. He nodded again and moved towards the door.

"Wait!" She called out and once again her grandfather turned to face her, "You can wait upstairs with all of us if you would like. I'm just down here because dad needed to get his wound checked."

"Yes, I saw that both of your parents were shot. How is your father?" He asked stiffly.

"He's doing well, his injury wasn't nearly as bad as mom's," she told him, wondering if he knew just how bad his daughter's gunshot wound was.

As if reading her mind, Thomas Jareau said, "Yes, so I heard. I went up to the surgical floor and the nurses gave me an update on her condition. I hope she comes through it okay. I left word that they should call me if they need more of my blood for her. Now I really have to go," he said.

"Okay, but thanks again," she said and she leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

He just nodded stiffly, turned and walked towards the exit. Without a backwards glance at his granddaughter, he stepped through the doors and into the night.

Sighing, Abby turned and walked back towards the ER. Once inside, she walked over to Hotch, but before she could tell him anything, the doctor called them back into her father's exam room. "It will be another ten minutes before the IV is finished; I'll be back then," he said as he left the room.

"What was your grandfather doing here?" Hotch asked, after the doctor had left.

Dave jerked his head up, "Thomas was here?"

Abby nodded, "He gave blood to mom," she said in a daze.

Hotch looked surprised, "Really?" She nodded. "But I thought you said he wasn't going to?"

"That's what he told me. I don't know what changed his mind; I'm sure it wasn't my sunny disposition at the end of our phone call" she said, remembering the obscenities she had screamed at him. Whatever the reason, she was relieved that her mother would be getting some more 'family' blood.

Dave looked confused, he knew his daughter had given blood, but he had no idea she had contacted her grandfather. "Does someone want to fill me in on what's going on here?"

Hotch and Abby told him about the telephone call she made to her grandfather and his initial reaction towards giving blood and then she filled the both of them in on her latest encounter with the stern man.

Dave shook his head, "I don't know what changed his mind and I don't care, I'm just happy that Jen is getting more help during her surgery. Speaking of which, let's see if we can get Dr. Robinson in here to unhook me so we can get back to the waiting room."

Both his boss and his daughter nodded and ten minutes later, the three of them made their way back to the waiting room.


	28. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 28

**This chapter was written in response to Kavi Leighanna and Sienna27's Television Prompt #17 April Challenge_._**

_**Prompt: ****Greek-The Day After**_

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Abby sighed, looked at her watch and saw that it read one-thirty in the morning. Technically it was the next day…it was the day after. It was the day after her life tilted on its axis; it was the day after she had seen one of her worst nightmares come true on live TV. It was the day after her normal life had ceased to exist and this new life, one filled with fear and uncertainty, began.

She sighed again, she knew she was being maudlin but it was one-thirty in the damn morning and she was waiting to hear whether her mother would live or die, so she figured she had an excuse to be emotional, not to mention the fact that she had been running on adrenaline for the last four or five hours and she could feel it beginning to ebb. She didn't want to be reflective at that particular moment in time but it was hard not to be, since there really wasn't much else to do. Sure, she could take out a book and try to read, but she knew she wouldn't be able to focus on any of the words. Not knowing what else to do, she gripped her father's hand tighter and focused on the good memories she had of her mother.

Dave felt the pressure increase on his hand and he knew his daughter's worry level was rising. He squeezed her hand in what he hoped was a reassuring manner and tried not to focus on the fact that it had been nearly four hours since the surgeon had updated them. He knew that at any minute, a doctor would come through the door and tell them his wife's fate, good or bad. He had spent the last two hours both praying and reflecting on his newfound life with his wife and daughter. He still marveled at the way the two women had brought him back to life. Before he had them he had been a shell of a man, content on merely surviving and finding meaningless companionship for the night, but his wife and daughter had given his life new meaning. They brought him joy and happiness, even during tough times, and he couldn't imagine his life without both of them in it. The old David Rossi would have been long gone by now, he never would have stayed and handled this shit, but the new David Rossi was in it for the long haul, good or bad. The new David Rossi knew he had to be strong for his daughter because he could see that she was barely hanging on. He also knew he had to be strong for his wife, because if she survived her injury, he knew she would need months of recovery time, and even then she may never be the woman she once was. He knew, though, that as long as she survived, he could face anything that came their way. He continued to sit in that sad waiting room and he couldn't let his brain imagine a life without his Jennifer, because he knew he would be a shell of a man without her. Sure, he would have their daughter in his life, and he would take care of her the best that he could, but he knew he would never fully survive the loss of his beloved wife and he fervently prayed that he would never have to try to.

The four members of the BAU team and Abby looked up as they heard footsteps approach their little corner of the waiting room. They had all hoped to see the surgeon approaching, but instead it was Prentiss and Reid, back from their ordered naptime. While they were all disappointed that it wasn't the surgeon, they were happy to see the two profilers were carrying drink carriers full of lcoffee. They set them down on the small table, and everyone reached for them gratefully. Dave frowned a little when he saw his daughter take a large draw from one of the cups, as he knew she was running on empty, but he also knew that short of shooting her full of valium, there was no way she would be sleeping for awhile, so he didn't say anything.

"Any news?" Emily asked, as she sat down next to Hotch.

Dave shook his head, "Nothing yet."

"But she did get more blood; Grandfather Jareau came and donated," Abby told them, allowing a small note of hope to enter her voice.

"That's good news," Reid said, "Did you know that 71%..." Pretty much everyone in the room stopped listening to Reid and his statistics and instead focused on their own thoughts about the day.

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Two more hours passed and they still hadn't heard anything from the surgeon. Everyone was getting antsy and they wanted an update. Both Abby and Dave were particularly restless and Abby paced the waiting area.

"Why haven't we heard anything?" She asked, and they all heard the slight edge of hysteria in her voice.

"I don't know Pumpkin, maybe it took longer than they thought it would," her dad said, trying to quell his own fears.

"Or maybe something happened…maybe something went wrong!" She exclaimed, passing by the sofa for the tenth time.

"Trust me Abby, I've been in this situation before and you would rather have the doctors take too long than have them come out too soon. They probably just want to double check everything before they come out with any news," Derek said, tiredly as the events of the day began finally catching up with him.

"But what if they're just trying to come up with a way to tell us that she…"

"That _didn't _happen Abby," Dave said, pulling her onto his knee as she passed by. "You need to stop pacing and ranting because if you don't stop, then I'm going to lose it and I don't think the team can handle two agitated Rossi's right now, do you?" He saw her shake her head, so he wrapped his right arm around her and tried to calm her down. He really was close to the edge himself, and he honestly didn't know how much longer he could keep reassuring her and telling her that everything was going to be okay. What he really wanted to do was go somewhere and fall apart, but he knew he needed to be strong for his daughter and there was little in the world that could have gotten him to leave the waiting room right then.

Thankfully for him, Abby followed his order and stopped voicing her doubt. Instead, she sat on his lap and just stared into space. Dave didn't know which of her coping mechanisms was worse, but he didn't have time to ponder the subject, because at that moment the surgeon entered the waiting room and walked over to them.

Recognizing the young doctor from hours before, Abby jumped off of her father's lap and approached him.

"How's mom?" She asked apprehensively. Dave waited behind her for the answer.

"Ms. Rossi, Agent Rossi," the surgeon said, "Dr. Kent, who is the head surgeon on your mother's case, is waiting for you in the conference room down the hall and he will explain everything there," he said, not answering Abby's question.

"Oh God, its bad isn't it?" She moaned and turned to face her father, "They never make you wait if its good news, they always take you somewhere else to give you bad news!"

Before she could panic too much, the surgeon said, "I assure you Ms. Rossi, your mother is alive and doing pretty well for someone with her type of injury. I'm sorry for worrying you."

Everyone in their corner of the waiting room exhaled deeply at the news that JJ was alive. Abby felt tears spring to her eyes and she suddenly felt exhausted, and Dave felt as if a giant weight had been lifted from his chest. He and Abby silently followed the young surgeon to the conference room and Dave motioned for the rest of the team to follow.

Once inside the room, they were greeted by an older doctor. The doctor looked tired, but his eyes held a hint of optimism which greatly reassured Dave. He shook all of their hands and then asked them all to sit.

"I'm sorry if I worried any of you by bringing you into this room instead of having this discussion in the waiting room, but I knew there were a lot of you and I wanted to be able to answer all of your questions. First I should introduce myself; I'm Dr. Kent, and I am the head trauma surgeon here at St. Luke's-Roosevelt hospital. I was on duty when Agent Rossi was brought in with her gunshot wound and I-"

Abby didn't let the man continue, "How's mom?" She broke in.

He smiled kindly at her, "You must be Abby."

Abby looked surprised, "How did you know that?"

"Before we put your mother under the anesthesia, she was in and out of consciousness and when she could talk, she kept saying 'tell Abby and Dave that I love them'." He looked at Rossi, who was gripping his daughter's hand, "I'm assuming you're Dave?"

He nodded, "I am. I'm Jennifer's husband and this is our daughter Abby. How is Jennifer?"

"For the type of injury your wife received, she's doing wonderfully." Once again, there was a group sigh of relief, and the doctor continued, "When Jennifer was brought to the ER, she barely had a pulse and she wasn't breathing on her own. As you know, her heart stopped on the way to the hospital, but the paramedics did a great job reviving her and she was in cardiac arrest for under a minute."

"Will there be any long-term effects from that?" Dave asked, not knowing if he wanted to hear the answer or not.

Dr. Kent shook his head, "I don't anticipate any from that episode, or the two times when we lost her heartbeat during surgery-"

"What?" Abby cried. Her mother had died _again_?

Dr. Kent looked at her, "We lost your mother's heartbeat two times during the surgery, but again it was for short periods of times and during all three episodes of cardiac arrest, she was adequately ventilated, so there should be no long-term effects from it."

Dave wanted to howl in frustration. As much as he liked this doctor, he had just told him that his wife had died _three_ times that day and he was trying to get them to believe there would be no long-term effects from it? He knew there would be; maybe not physical ones, but he knew the three of them, plus the team, wouldn't ever be able to get the doctor's words out of their heads.

The doctor continued his briefing, "Anyway, when your mother was brought to us, her pulmonary artery had ruptured and she had other damage in her chest cavity from the bullet bouncing around in there. We stabilized her vital signs before we took her up to surgery, which increased her chances of survival. Once we got her up to surgery, we opened her up, stopped the arterial bleeding and began to repair the damage to her chest. Other than the arterial rupture, which is what took us so long to repair, there was some other minor damage from the bullet. Jennifer has three broken ribs and some muscle damage from the shooting, but I'm not anticipating any long-term effects from those injuries."

"What about the injury to the artery, are you expecting long-term effects from that?" Hotch asked, voicing the question that Dave and Abby were both too afraid to ask.

Dr. Kent thought for a moment and then shook his head, "Not really, what I'm expecting are some long short-term effects." He saw the confused looks on the faces around him and explained, "In medical terms, 'long-term effects' are effects of an injury or illness that will be with the person for the rest of their lives. Now I can't speak of any lasting psychological effects Jennifer may have, but the physical ones shouldn't last longer than the next two or three months."

"What are the physical ones?" Dave asked.

"She's going to need to rebuild her strength and stamina over the next couple of months. This injury was very serious; most people don't survive past the scene of the injury, and if they do, they usually don't survive the surgery." Dave felt his daughter's grip on his hand tighten when the doctor said that, and he squeezed it back. "She's going to be tired and weak at first, both from the surgery and the blood loss, and she's going to need to take it slow. She's going to need someone with her at all times for her first couple of weeks at home, and I wouldn't anticipate her returning to work anytime before the middle of May, maybe even later than that."

"Is there a danger of the artery re-rupturing?" Abby asked, in a teary voice.

"I doubt it, but if it would re-rupture, it would happen in the next couple of days, which is why we're going to keep her in the ICU during that time. Your mother is also going to be in quite a bit of pain, so we're going to keep her hooked up to IV painkillers. As she heals, we'll wean her off of them, but right now we want to keep her as calm and pain-free as possible so she can recoverl."

"How long will our Cupcake be in this fine establishment?" Garcia asked.

"For at least a week and a half, maybe two," the doctor replied, "With her type of injury, I don't want to take any chances by releasing her too early." He looked around the room, "Are there any other questions?" He asked as he passed around his contact information to everyone. "I'm sure you'll have some as the days go by so please call me with them."

"When can we see her?" Dave wanted to know.

"We'll get her into a bed in the ICU in about an hour and you can see her there for a few minutes. After that, the earliest you'll be able to see her is after noon today." Seeing Dave open his mouth to protest, the doctor held up his hand, "Between the effects of the blood loss, the anesthetic from surgery and the pain killers, your wife is going to be unconscious for at least the next eight hours and our nursing staff will be setting up the medical equipment needed for your wife's care. If you're there staring at your unconscious wife, you will just be in the way and you may interfere with the nurse's ability to care for Jennifer. My suggestion is to go and get some sleep during that time, as all of you look exhausted. Sleep will probably help your own gunshot wound heal faster, Agent Rossi."

With that, the doctor got up and started for the door. As he opened it, he remembered something and he turned back to Abby. "By the way, your donated blood was probably one of the major factors that saved your mother's life." Abby smiled when she heard this. She wanted to ask the doctor about the blood, but his pager went off and he had to leave.

Once they were alone in the room, Hotch caught Garcia's eye and motioned toward the door with a slight jerk of his head. Penelope got the hint, "I have to visit the little girl's room, care to join me Abby?" She asked.

Abby didn't really have to go, but she figured all of the agents wanted to talk about FBI stuff, so she nodded and followed Pen out of the room. As soon as the door clicked shut behind them, Hotch began speaking, "After Dave and Abby see JJ, I want all of us to return to the hotel to sleep." He heard the protests from everyone in the room, including Dave, and he talked over them. "All of us need some solid sleep," he said, "and that includes both you and Reid," he said to a protesting Emily. "I have agents from the New York field office coming in to stand guard over JJ's ICU room and the boys from NYPD will be stationed at our hotel, with guards at the ends of our hallway and two in front of yours and Abby's room." Hotch said to Dave. "I don't want anyone back here until eleven at the absolute earliest, is that understood?" Everyone begrudgingly grumbled their acknowledgement of the order.

A few minutes later, Abby and Garcia returned and they all made their way back to the waiting room. This time, the mood in their little corner of the room was happier, since they knew that JJ was alive and doing well.


	29. Chapter 29

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 29

**~Sorry it took me so long to post, I had a god awful day on Monday and it gave me a migraine that stuck around until this morning, but I'm better now and ready to write!**

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True to his word, the doctor came to get Dave and Abby just over an hour later. As he led them to JJ's room in the ICU, he warned them about what they would see.

"Jennifer is hooked up to a ventilator right now, so there is a tube in her throat. She will most likely be on the ventilator for a few more days, so even during periods of consciousness she won't be able to verbally communicate with you." Dave swallowed hard and nodded, and Dr. Kent continued. "She has a drain in her chest and numerous IV's attached to her, which are keeping her medicated, hydrated and nourished. We may give her another unit of blood tomorrow, and if you're up to it, we'll probably get that unit from you Abby."

She nodded, "Take as much as you need," she said, knowing her father wouldn't limit her the way her uncle had.

"There is a lot of machinery in her room, but most of it is there just as a precaution. You'll have ten minutes with her, but that's it until around noon. When you come back, you and your team can wait in the much more comfortable ICU waiting room. Normally patient visits are restricted to immediate family only but I'll allow members of your team to visit as well, although there should be no more than four of you in the room at the same time," Dr. Kent said as they stepped into the elevator.

"Why do we have to wait in the ICU waiting room tomorrow?" Abby asked as they ascended to the ICU floor. "Can't we stay with mom in her room?"

The doctor shook his head, "Unfortunately the ICU is not set up for long-term visitors. There's not much room in the unit and the medical staff frequently enters and exits each room, so the logistics for that would be a nightmare. Plus, your mother needs her undisturbed rest. You'll be able to visit her for ten minutes each hour."

Both Dave and Abby grumbled over the short visiting time, but they didn't argue the matter. Dave wanted to save his arguments for when Jennifer was actually awake. The doctor had another thing coming if he actually thought he would wait in the waiting room while his wife fretted alone in her room.

The elevator doors opened to the ICU floor, and the occupants were greeted by the sounds of various machines beeping. They followed Dr. Kent to the middle of the hallway and into a room. "I have to check on some other patients, but please let me or a nurse know if you have any questions about Jennifer's condition." With that, Dr. Kent glanced at his pager and raced down the hallway.

As soon as she stepped into the room, Abby gasped; her mother was lying in a bed with tubes coming out of every part of her body. While Dr. Kent's warnings had prepared her for this, she couldn't believe that it was her mother lying there, with machines doing everything for her…she looked like something out of Star Trek.

While not quite as shocked as has daughter was since he had visited his fair share of shooting victims in the hospital over the years, Dave had to hold back his own gasp when he saw his wife. He couldn't count the number of tubes attached to her and she was so pale that she almost looked translucent. As he approached the bed, Dave felt as though he could almost see the blood pumping through her body. He stood at the head of her bed and picked up one of her hands. To his relief it was warm, and he stroked the back of it gently with his thumb.

Seeing that his daughter was still standing near the door, Dave motioned her over to him and she shuffled over to his side.

"She looks awful," she whispered, half afraid that her mother would hear her.

"She's looked better, that's for sure," Dave agreed. "But I think she looks pretty good, considering what happened to her today."

Abby nodded and a tear slid down her cheek. Dave, seeing his daughter's silent tears, passed her mother's hand to her. "Here, hold your mom's hand for a minute."

She shook her head, but took her mother's hand anyway, "Are you…are you sure I'm not hurting her?" She asked him timidly and was surprised when a new voice responded.

"Holdin' your mother's hand isn't going to hurt her, sweetheart," the nurse said as she bustled into the room. "If anything, it'll make her feel better." The nurse had light southern twang and a gentle smile and she looked as though she had been doing her job for many years.

Abby nodded and kept holding her mother's hand. Dave went around to the other side of JJ, picked up her other hand and then stood in silence as the nurse recorded JJ's vital signs and adjusted one of the IV's. "My name's Annie and I'll be your mom's nurse until three o'clock this afternoon. Since it's been ten minutes, I think the two of you need to go and let this girl here get some rest…and it looks like the two of you could use some too."

Both Dave and Abby reluctantly nodded their agreement, thanked the nurse and then left the room. Shortly after that, they grabbed a cab with Morgan and Garcia and went back to the hotel.

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After Dave and Abby left to go see JJ in the ICU, Hotch instructed Morgan and Garcia to wait for them and then ride back to the hotel with them, while he and Prentiss went down to the ER to let Dr. Robinson know that Dave wouldn't make his six o'clock wound check. Reid, who had talked Hotch into letting him stay at the hospital, made himself comfy on the sofa in the ICU waiting room.

After their stop in the ER, Hotch and Emily caught cab to the hotel and stumbled in, exhaustedly. They took the elevator to the floor where the BAU was staying and when they stepped out, they were greeted by the NYPD officers that were stationed at the end of the hallway. They both flashed their credentials and were allowed to go down the hallway to their rooms. At the end of the hallway, they paused in front of Emily's room.

"Well, goodnight Prentiss," Hotch said, as he turned to go into his own room across the hallway.

"Do you want to come in for a minute?" She asked.

He shook his head, "I have a bunch of calls I have to return before I can even _think_ about going to bed, so I probably shouldn't."

"Come on Hotch, you need sleep as much as the rest of us and you know that no one will be expecting a call before eight o'clock. Why don't you take this time to sleep?"

He thought about it for a moment and then reluctantly nodded his head, "Maybe I will get a little shut-eye before making my calls. Goodnight Emily," and without thinking, he leaned down and kissed her on the lips.

The kiss felt normal to Emily and she leaned in to return it. After about twenty seconds, they both came to their senses and broke apart.

"I'm…I'm sorry Prentiss," Hotch stammered, turning red. "I don't know what came over me, that was wildly inappropriate for me to do." He glanced down the hallway to see if any of the officers standing guard had witnessed their less than chaste display of affection, but luckily they seemed to be engrossed in their own conversation and didn't notice them.

"I'm _not_ sorry you did that Hotch. Look, this is not the conversation we want to have in the middle of the hallway with four of New York's finest watching; why don't you come in for a minute?" She suggested as she opened her door. After a moment of hesitation, he followed her in.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Emily turned and faced her unit chief. "I've been waiting for you to do that for awhile," she admitted.

"And I've been _wanting _to do that for awhile," he told her.

"Why did you do it now? What changed?" She asked, curious.

"Life was put into perspective for me today. Watching both JJ and Dave get shot made me realize that life can end at any minute, and I don't want to die with a lot of regrets," he told her, standing close to her. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. "I also saw Dave's reaction in the field when he realized JJ could die and I want that kind of love. I want to know that someone would fall apart if I were to die."

"Hotch, the entire team would be affected if you died," Emily said and he shook his head.

"No, not like that. When Dave realized that JJ had been hit, the look in his eye was…well, I can't describe it, but I knew that if she had died, he would have curled up and died too. What they have is true love and I want to feel that sometime in my life."

"And you think you'll be able to find that kind of love with me?" Emily practically whispered.

He nodded, "I do, unless…well, unless you don't feel that way about me?" Hotch nervously began wondering if he had misread the entire situation. He was immensely relieved when he saw her smile and nod her head.

"I feel the same way about you," she admitted, "And I saw the look on Dave's face at the hospital and you're right, if she dies, a large part of him will die with her. But Hotch, JJ could still die. Do you think he realizes that?"

He shook his head, "I don't know, but I don't want to focus on them right now, I want to focus on us. Why didn't you ever tell me how you felt about me?"

"For the same reason you never told me! I wasn't sure if you felt the same way about me and I didn't want to ruin our friendship, not to mention it would have made things awkward at work." She finally wrapped her arms around him and rested her head against his chest.

"Things might _still _be awkward at work. Once Strauss catches wind of this, she's going to make things even more miserable for us," he told her with a sigh.

Emily looked up at him, "Can you do me a favor? Can you never again mention Erin Strauss while I'm in your arms? You know, unless you were never planning on getting lucky with me."

Hotch smiled, "I promise never to mention 'she who must not be named' while we are ensconced in each other's embrace, okay?" Emily nodded. "But we _will_ have to discuss the possible career ramifications at some point."

"I know, but it doesn't have to be tonight, does it?" She said, slowly untying his tie.

"No, it doesn't," he told her as he once again brought his mouth down upon hers.

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"Are you just about ready Abby?" Dave asked as he adjusted the sling that his left arm was resting in.

"Yeah, just give me a second," she called from the bathroom. A second later, she stepped out and slid into her shoes. "Uncle Aaron is going to be pissed when he finds out we went back to the hospital before eleven," she warned as she grabbed her back pack.

"You let me deal with Aaron," Dave told her as he put his wallet in his back pocket. When they got back to the hotel at around five in the morning, all he and Abby wanted to do was fall into bed. They both barely got their teeth brushed before they collapsed into each of the queen beds that filled the room. Less than two minutes after turning out the light, Dave heard his daughter's light snoring and he too fell asleep, only to have it ruined an hour later.

They were both ripped from their slumber by the shrill ring of the hotel phone. Abby sat bolt up in bed, with a terrified look on her face. She knew this type of call was never a good one, and she was terrified it was the hospital calling to tell them that her mother had taken a turn for the worse. She visibly paled as her father answered the phone and she was _not _reassured by the fearful look on _his_ face.

Dave picked up the phone with shaking hands, and answered it. As soon as he said 'hello,' a recorded voice came on, telling him the time. He gently hung the phone up and looked at his daughter. "It was just the wakeup call Pumpkin; I forgot to have them turn it off."

She gave a deep sigh of relief, "I thought…I thought it was the hospital…I thought mom…"

"I know honey, me too," he admitted. "But right now we both need to sleep, so why don't you lie back down and shut your eyes."

She followed his orders, but sleep wouldn't return. She lay awake staring at the lightening ceiling for another hour before her she finally heard her father whisper, "Are you awake?"

"I am, I couldn't fall back to sleep, that phone call freaked me out too much."

"I know, me too," Dave said, struggling to get into a sitting position. The pain in his shoulder was also not helping his sleep situation. "Since it seems like sleep is a lost cause for both of us, why don't we go grab breakfast in the hotel restaurant and then head back to the hospital?"

Abby sat up and gave her dad a small smile, "Sounds great."

Dave was pulled from his reverie by his daughter's question, "Are you okay dad?" She asked worriedly.

He nodded, "I'm fine, just thinking," he told her as he ushered her out the door. Once they were in the hallway, they greeted the cops outside of their room. Thankfully Abby had bought the explanation that it was standard operating procedure for the team to have guards after a shooting.

They had taken exactly two steps when they saw Hotch emerge from Emily's room. His back was to them and they watched as he quietly shut the door behind him. He then turned to go to his own room and was greeted by their smiling faces.

"Morning Hotch," Dave said with a small grin.

"Dave, Abby," Hotch nodded. "I bet you're wondering what I'm doing out here."

"Bet I'm not," Dave told him, his grin growing. "You sly dog!"

"It's not what you think," Hotch told them and then thought for a minute. "Okay, it's exactly what you think, but it wasn't just some casual fling last night, Emily and I genuinely care about each other."

"So you both finally admitted your feelings?" Abby asked and her uncle nodded.

He nodded, "The shooting yesterday gave us a swift kick in the ass to admit our feelings for each other," he told them and then glanced at his watch. "Where are you two going? I thought I ordered everyone to get some sleep? I could swear I said that no one was to go back to the hospital before eleven."

"Since I'm not on your team, you really can't really order me around, Uncle Aaron," Abby said and got the infamous 'Hotchner Glare' in return.

"I forgot to turn off the wakeup call," Dave explained, "And the call kinda scared us and neither one of us could get back to sleep, so we decided to grab breakfast and go back to the hospital."

Hotch nodded, at least Dave's disregard for his order hadn't been intentional. "Give me a couple of minutes to get changed and I'll join you," he said and Dave shook his head.

"We'll be fine Aaron; you need some sleep…lots of it by the look on your face. We'll be fine," He told the unit chief softly.

"Well if you're sure…"

"I am," Dave said firmly.

"Okay," Hotch said reluctantly as he walked towards his room. He opened his door and slipped inside without giving a backwards glance at either of the Rossi's.

"That was interesting," Abby said to her father, once Hotch was in his room.

"It sure was Pumpkin,' Dave said thoughtfully. He shook his head to clear it and then reached for her hand. "C'mon, let's see what kind of omelets these chefs can make."

Abby wasn't hungry, but she let her father lead her into the restaurant, where they did indeed have some excellent omelets.


	30. Chapter 30

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 30

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As soon as they got back to the hospital, Abby insisted they go to the ER so her father could have his shoulder checked and get his IV antibiotics. Dave put up a fight over that, but Abby eventually threatened to call her uncle and Dave finally gave in. He knew his daughter was worried about his injury and he wanted to put her mind at ease, if he could, and he knew the only way to do that would be to see the ER doctor. Besides, Hotch let them know that when he told the ER doc that Dave would be late for his appointment, the doctor told him to have Dave come to the ER when he got to the hospital and he would work him in so he wouldn't have to wait in the waiting room. True to his word, when Dave checked in with the triage nurse, she immediately buzzed them back into the patient area and into an exam room.

Dave felt somewhat exposed while waiting for the doctor. He knew that if the shooting had been intentional, then he, and possibly his daughter, were potential targets and he was used to having his armed teammates nearby. He was wearing his gun but he knew that with his injury, his reaction time would be slower if anything were to happen. Thankfully nothing did; the tired Dr. Robinson cleaned his wound and gave him his antibiotics. Before letting him leave, the doctor made him promise to return at six o'clock that night and he set him up with another doctor that would be on duty. After that, he and Abby made their way up to the ICU.

After checking with the nursing staff, they learned that JJ had had a fairly uneventful night. No amount of begging on their part could convince the nurses to let them see her before noon, as that was what Dr. Kent had ordered. Frustrated, the two of them went to the ICU waiting room and greeted a tired Reid.

Dr. Kent was right when he said the ICU waiting room was much nicer than the surgical waiting room. For one thing, it was less crowded, which meant it was also quieter. The furniture was better in the ICU waiting room as well, since many family members slept there while waiting for their ten minute visits with their loved ones. The room itself had many windows, which made it brighter and there was a coffee pot in one corner and a large television in another. There was also an alcove in the back of the room so people could talk on their cell phones without disturbing everyone else. Dave took a deep breath, he knew he needed to use that alcove to make the call he had been dreading.

He got Abby settled into one of the chairs in the room. "Stay with her," he instructed Reid, and the younger agent nodded. Dave then walked to the alcove and dialed an international number. When the person on the other end answered, Dave used his broken Italian to ask to speak to his mother. He knew it was a crapshoot as to whether or not she would be at her brother's home, since it was two o'clock in the afternoon there, but he had to try. He knew she was going to be angry that he hadn't called before now, and he tried to gear up for that as he waited.

"Davie?" His mother asked as she picked up the phone a continent away.

"Hi ma," he said, wondering how he should break the news to her. He decided the direct approach was the best way, since she couldn't stand it when people beat around the bush.

"What's wrong David?" She asked. She could tell by the two words he had spoken that something was not right, call it mother's intuition.

He sighed, "I was shot ma; both Jennifer and I were shot while on a case yesterday."

"Il mio dio," his mother breathed, reverting to the language she had been speaking for the last week.

"I'm okay ma, it was just a flesh wound, but Jennifer...Jennifer didn't fare as well," he said.

"How is she?" Marie demanded, already making plans in her head to return to the US as soon as was humanly possible.

"She's in intensive care right now. The doctor is hopeful that she will survive her injury, but there's always a chance-" Dave's voice broke and he couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.

"She's strong Davie, she has to be to put up with you, and she'll make it through this," she said, trying to reassure him. "I'm coming home; I will there as soon as I can. Where are you?"

"In New York, we were on a high profile case here."

"I will have your sister make the arrangements, and we will be there as soon as we can," she reiterated. "How is the little one? Does she know yet?"

"She knows, the shooting took place during a press conference and she saw it happen on live TV," he told her and he heard her suck in her breath.

"Oh no," Marie said sadly, "How is she?"

"About as well as can be expected; not eating, not sleeping and worrying about me and her mother."

"You tell her to hang on, tell her I'm on my way. You call your sister's cell phone if anything changes Davie," his mother instructed.

"I will ma," he promised. They spoke for another minute and then disconnected the call.

Dave sighed yet again and then stepped out of the alcove and back into the waiting room where he found his daughter missing from her chair. "Where's Abby?" He asked Reid.

"Back visiting JJ," he responded.

"WHAT?" He had been gone for five minutes and he missed the opportunity to see his wife?

Reid nodded, "Yeah, it was the damndest thing! JJ's nurse came to ask a question about her medical history and Abby answered it and then started telling her about how it was just her and JJ until she was fifteen and how they were so close, and the next thing I knew, the nurse was sneaking her back for a visit. I'm not kidding sir, the next time you have to do any negotiating, you should bring her along."

Dave wasn't sure whether he should feel pride for his daughter, annoyance that he was not there to go back and see his wife, or anger that Reid let her go by herself. He chose anger. "So you just let her go back there by herself? She's a possible target for fuck's sake!"

"There are two police officers stationed in front of JJ's room, sir. She's safe." Reid responded back, a little surprised at the anger in the older profiler's voice. He knew it was to be expected, given his lack of sleep combined with his worry about his wife and the pain from his own injury, but it didn't make it any easier to take.

"Dammit Reid, I _don't_ want her to be without one of us for _any_ reason, got it!" Dave snarled.

"Got it sir," he replied and then excused himself to use the restroom. As he left the room, Abby entered.

"How's your mom?" Her dad asked eagerly.

She shrugged, "She looked the same as yesterday and the nurse said there had been no change overnight, which I guess is good."

"You never thought about coming to get me to see if I wanted to go with you?" He asked, the annoyance evident in his voice.

"I was shocked that I talked _my_ way back there! There was no way Annie was going to let _both_ of us go. Besides, you were on the phone. How did Nonna take the news?" She asked, trying to change the subject.

"She's coming back here on the first available flight," her dad told her.

Abby smiled softly, as much as she hated that her grandmother's trip was ruined, she looked forward to seeing her. "Was she pissed that no one called her until now?"

Dave shook his head, "She didn't say anything on the phone, but I'm sure it will come up when she gets here. God, I just hate ruining her trip, she rarely gets back to Italy as it is. Speaking of Italy, you realize our trip at the end of the month is off, right?"

"You mean we're not going to drag my recovering mother on a trip through Europe?" Abby asked sarcastically, which made her father smile a little. "Of course the trip is off, mom will still be recuperating at that point."

After that, they settled into one of the sofas and dozed until the rest of the team arrived at around ten o'clock. It was evident by their haggard faces that the rest of the team hadn't slept well either.

Soon after they arrived, the nurse from the blood bank came and asked if Abby could donate again. After asking her how she felt, Dave agreed to let her give blood to her mother and got up to go with her to the blood bank. Abby stopped him.

"How about if Emily and Penelope come with me instead?" She asked. She wanted the scoop on Emily and Hotch and she knew Emily would be more willing to talk if it was girl-talk.

Dave looked at her for a second and then realized what she was trying to do. Since Emily was armed, he really didn't have a problem sending her with his daughter. "That's fine with me if it's okay with Emily." Emily nodded her agreement, and Dave pulled his daughter into a hug. "You'll let me know what you find out, right?" He whispered in her ear.

"Of course," she whispered back and then pulled away from him, a soft smile gracing her lips. Over the course of the past two years, Abby had learned that her father thrived on hearing gossip. It didn't matter who it was about, be it a celebrity or some of her friends, but he especially loved gossip about the BAU team.

The three women made their way down to the blood donation room and then the two BAU team members watched as the nurse set up for the donation. When she came at Abby with the needle, the teen once again scrunched her eyes shut, gripped Penelope's hand and reminded herself that she was doing it for her mother. Once she was hooked up to everything, the nurse left the three of them alone and that's when Abby began to pump Emily for information.

"So you and Uncle Aaron…" Abby trailed off suggestively.

Emily put her head in hands, "I should have known you were going to do this when you asked me to come with you instead of your dad," she said and then looked up at her. "Hotch told me you saw him leaving my room this morning."

"WHAT?" Penelope screeched, and then lowered her voice when she realized she had startled more than a few of the patients and nurses in the room. "You and Hotch? You finally admitted it?" She squeaked.

"Yes, we finally admitted it," Emily said sheepishly. She knew her friends had been waiting for this day forever and she knew that if JJ wasn't unconscious, she would be joining in the interrogation.

"From the looks of it, you did more than admit it," Abby said with a grin. "We want details."

Emily shook her head, "Oh no. No, no, no, no, NO! There are some things that will remain private between Aaron and I."

"Come on Emily," Abby whined, "I'm trapped here with a needle stuck in my arm, a needle that is collecting my blood to be brought to my severely injured mother, in hopes that it will help save her life. Not to mention the fact that my dad was also shot, I saw the whole thing on live TV and I'm going to be stuck at this godforsaken hospital for the foreseeable future. Give me _something_!"

Emily couldn't believe the guilt trip Abby had pulled on her, but it worked. "Okay, fine. Hotch and I got back from the hospital last night and he kissed me in the hallway and I kissed him back. We both didn't realize what we were doing, but we talked about it in my room and it turns out we both feel the same way about each other."

"Duh," Pen said, "It's not like it took a profiler to see that. Hell, Helen Keller could have seen the attraction between the two of you."

"_Anyway_," Emily said, ignoring Garcia's interruption, "One thing led to another and we spent a wonderful couple of hours together…and that's all I'm willing to say in front of a seventeen year-old."

Both Abby and Penelope were grinning, "I think that's all you have to say, sweet pea. Abby and I are more than capable of drawing our own conclusions."

Abby was about to say something that would have probably embarrassed the hell out of Emily, but luckily for the profiler, the nurse came to disconnect her from the tubing.

After she ate the required sugar cookies and Sunny Delight, the nurse allowed Abby to return to the ICU waiting room. Once there, her father approached her, "Did everything go okay?"

"Yup, just a little dizziness," she said as she walked over to the sofa with him.

"You get any dirt?" He asked, under his breath.

"Yup," she responded, "I'll tell you about it later. Suffice it to say-" She was cut off by an urgent page on the overhead system.

"Code blue to ICU 8! Code team to ICU 8, stat!"

Abby looked at her father in horror, "That's mom's room!"


	31. Chapter 31

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 31

**~Classes start up again tomorrow, so updates may be slower over the next week or two as I get back into the swing of things. I can't believe how fast the summer went!**

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Abby saw her own horror reflected back in her father's eyes, "Are you sure?" He asked frantically.

She nodded her head, "When I went into her room earlier, I almost knocked the room placard off the door because I bumped into it and when I did that, I saw it was room number eight!"

They looked at each other for another split second and then bolted for the door that led back to the ICU. Unfortunately for them, Hotch and Morgan were closer and they blocked the way.

"MOVE!" Dave thundered, and was amazed when both men shook their heads.

"No way Dave, the doctors need to work on JJ and they don't need you getting in the way," Hotch told him. He felt like an asshole blocking the way, but he knew neither one of them would help the situation if they barged into JJ's room.

Dave glared at him, "I'm not kidding Hotch, if you don't let me pass, I'm not going to be responsible for my actions," he warned.

"Take your best shot Dave, but you're not getting past us," he told him, feeling more like the Devil with each passing moment.

"That's my wife back there Aaron, I have to be with her!" Dave's voice broke and he was practically pleading by that point.

"I know you want to be with her Dave, but you have to let the doctors do their jobs. All you'll do is get in the way right now," Hotch said gently.

Abby looked at the men with an expression of disbelief; if her father wanted to debate the situation with the two burly FBI agents, then he could, but she was going to her mother. "Fuck this!" She said and shoved her way between Hotch and Morgan. Both of them were stunned by her action. They had been so focused on keeping her father in the waiting area that they had forgotten about her. They watched in amazement as she bolted down the hallway towards JJ's room.

After a few seconds, Hotch regained the use of his senses and tore down the hall after her, but he was too late. Abby stood in the doorway to her mother's room and watched in horror as they performed CPR on her. Moments later he came up behind her, with her father close on his heels, and they all watched as the doctors and nurses shocked her in an attempt to restart her heart. At that point, Hotch bodily picked up his pseudo-niece and brought her back to the waiting room. Morgan followed behind him, practically dragging Dave with him.

Once in the waiting area, Hotch set Abby down in a chair. "Don't move," he ordered. "So help me Abby, if you try going back there again, I'll handcuff you to the chair," he said sternly.

Abby just nodded and stared straight ahead. Along with the memory of seeing her parents shot, she would now have the memory of her mother being shocked running through her mind. She felt like her brain was beginning to overload... that if one more thing happened, she would totally lose it and she didn't know if she would come back from that.

Dave sat down next to his daughter, picked up her hand and just held it, not saying or doing anything. They both sat like that for the next twenty minutes as they waited for the doctor to come out to tell them whether JJ was alive or dead.

The rest of the team watched the father and daughter as they sat in silence. They knew both of them hadn't slept much, and they all knew that they must be close to their breaking points. Hotch didn't know what he preferred most, their sitting in silence or their arguing with him to let them see JJ. He didn't have much time to ponder his preference, as Dr. Kent entered the waiting area.

Both Dave and Abby jumped to their feet when the doctor entered the room. "Is she…" Dave couldn't finish his question, how did one ask if a loved one was still alive?

The doctor gave both Abby and Dave a reassuring look, "Jennifer is alive and doing well," he told them, gesturing for them to sit back down as he sat on the end of the sofa. Both of them sank back down onto the couch and the team gathered around them.

"Dave, Abby," the doctor said, addressing them, "An hour ago we switched Jennifer to a different antibiotic. The new antibiotic is more powerful and it was our hope that it would help her recover faster, but instead she had a severe allergic reaction to it. It was this allergic reaction that sent her into cardiac arrest. Like the previous times her heart stopped, this time it was for under a minute and we don't expect there to be any long-term effects from it."

Abby sat still, as she was still in a bit of shock from the event. Dave wearily ran a hand over his face. "So you're telling us it had nothing to do with her physical injuries?"

Dr. Kent nodded, "This was caused entirely by the new antibiotic and we've since switched her back to the old one."

"So she'll…she'll be okay?" Abby asked, still gripping her father's hand like it was a lifeline.

The doctor nodded again, "In fact she's awake right now. Would you like to see her?"

They both jumped to their feet again and followed the doctor down the hallway. Once in front of JJ's room, the doctor stopped them.

"The allergic reaction aside, Jennifer is doing much better than expected. She's still on the ventilator, and we'll keep her on it for the next twelve hours or so, but after that we'll remove it and she'll be able to speak. We also plan on keeping her sedated for the next twelve to twenty-four hours so she can rest and heal, and after that she'll be on pain killers that will make her groggy, but she is coming along much faster than we anticipated."

That announcement elicited small smiles from both Abby and Dave, and they entered JJ's room feeling much lighter than they had since the whole ordeal had begun. They felt even better when they approached her and saw her blue eyes following them as they moved.

Dave made his way to his wife, leaned down and gently kissed her on the forehead. "There's my girl," he said softly, blinking back tears.

Abby stood next to him and picked up her mother's hand. "Hi mom," she said quietly, also trying to hold back her emotions, but unsuccessful in doing so as an errant tear zigzagged down her cheek.

JJ, unable to talk, gave them a loving look. She conveyed more in that look than she could have with a thousand words. She then looked around the room in confusion; she wasn't one hundred percent sure what had happened to her, but she remembered giving a press conference and then a blinding pain in her chest. She looked back at her husband, trying to ask her questions telepathically. Luckily for her Dave seemed to read her mind, or at least her expression.

"You were shot sweetheart, you were shot during your press conference. Do you remember any of it?" She gently shook her head, wincing at the pain it caused in her chest. She looked more closely at her husband, saw the sling he was wearing and raised her eyebrows in question. "I took a hit too, but it wasn't nearly as bad as yours. The doctors say I'm going to be fine, just like you."

JJ didn't fully believe him, but she knew now was not the time to ask in-depth questions, especially seeing as she physically _couldn't_ ask them. Instead she shifted her gaze to her daughter. She looked terrified and JJ knew this was one of her worst fears come true. She attempted to smile around the tube that was in her mouth, but before she could, a nurse bustled into the room.

"Sorry to interrupt, but this little lady needs her rest," she said as she checked the IV leading to JJ's arm. "I'm going to have to ask y'all to leave now."

Both Dave and his daughter nodded and Dave bent back down and kissed JJ's forehead again, "I love you with all my heart Jennifer," he told her and she gave a slight nod.

Abby, who was still holding her mother's hand, whispered, "I love you so much mom."

JJ gave her hand a slight squeeze, as if to say, "I know and I love you too." After that, the nurse injected something into her IV and she slipped back into unconsciousness.

Dave and Abby wearily returned to the waiting room. Dave watched as his daughter sank into a chair and stared off into space, seemingly in her own little world. Suddenly and without warning, the events of the past eighteen hours caught up with him and he knew he was about to lose it. He didn't want to do it in front of his fragile daughter and his co-workers, so he rushed out of the room, blindly speeding down the hallway towards the elevator. Once inside the small box, he hit the number for the ground floor with the intent to step outside for some air, but once he stepped into the lobby he saw a sign for the hospital chapel and ducked inside.

It was cool, dark and empty in the sacred place and he took a seat towards the back, and then put his face in his hands and let the tears come. He cried for his wife and the pain she had endured and would continue to endure during her recovery. He cried for his daughter, whose security and safety had been yanked out from under her in one fell swoop and he grieved for their family as a whole. Surely this would change everything and he wondered if they would ever be the happy family they had once been.

Once his tears dried up, he sat in silence in the chapel and began to pray. He hadn't done it in quite awhile, but it was like riding a bike. He was so engrossed in his prayers that he barely noticed when someone sat down next to him. When he finally looked up, he was shocked to see his best friend sitting beside him.

"Jimmy!"

"Davie," he said softly and pulled his best friend into a hug. The two men stayed like that for a moment before separating, and Dave was surprised to find he had tears in his eyes again.

"What are you doing here?" He asked in confusion. The last time he checked, his friend was at a conference in Tucson.

"I got home last night and your mother called me this morning. Davie, I'm so sorry. How's Jennifer?" He asked, knowing that his friend needed to talk about his wife more than he did his own injuries.

Dave let out a shuddery sigh and realized he sounded more like his seventeen year old daughter than he did the strong and mature FBI agent he was supposed to be. "Who knows? The doctors told us she's doing better than they thought she would, but that was right after she went into cardiac arrest. I can't make heads or tails of anything they tell me, and what's worse is that I have to try to reassure my daughter that her mother will be all right when I'm not so sure myself!"

Jimmy could see his friend was on the edge. "I know its hard Dave, but you have to stay strong. For the first time in a long time you have to think about and take care of others and I know it scares the hell out of you."

"I don't know what to do, Jimmy," he confessed. "The old me would be long gone by now…that guy wouldn't even have tried to deal with this and I've got to admit, a part of me is jealous of him."

"So what are you going to do Dave, leave them again? Are you going to let your seventeen year old daughter deal with this by herself? Are you going to leave her to take care of her mother? Are you going to leave your wife while she's lying in the ICU?" Jimmy knew his friend wouldn't do it, but he wanted to put things in perspective for him and it worked. He watched as the expression on his friend's face turned to one of horror.

"God, NO! I just…I don't know what to do here. I've never been this person before, the person who is responsible for taking care of those around him," he said, a bit frantically. "I mean, I know I stepped up to the plate when Abby was injured but that was different, Jennifer was the main caretaker, I just sort of helped. But now…now I'm it! I'm the one who will have to nurse my wife back to health. I'm the one who will have to help my daughter regain a sense of normalcy in her life, especially after all she's seen in the last eighteen hours. I'm the one who will have to keep them safe until I know we're no longer targets. I'm the one who will have to try and make it all better for them, and I don't know if I can do it," he admitted.

"First of all, you CAN do it, I know you can," the priest said firmly. "Second of all, you're not their fairy godmother; it's not entirely up to you to make things better for them. Yes, as the least injured adult in the house, a lot of that will fall to you, but they'll also need to help themselves and you're going to have to _let_ them help themselves. It's going to have to be a family effort, but I've seen how close the three of you are and I'm sure you'll pull through." He paused and reflected on the rest of his friend's words, "What did you mean when you said 'until you're no longer targets'?"

Dave explained what had happened and the possible threat against them. When he was done his friend let out a low whistle. "That sure complicates things, but you can do it Dave, I know you can. I've seen you with all of your other wives before and I can honestly say that I've never seen you as involved and as caring as you have been with Jennifer and Abby. You will be able to do this," he reiterated.

Dave considered his friends words and felt better. This was his oldest and dearest friend in the world...hell, he practically knew Dave better than he knew himself and if he thought he could handle this, then he could. He stood up and his friend followed.

"Thanks man," he said.

"Any time Davie," Jimmy told him.

"Can you stay for awhile?" Dave asked, trying not to sound needy. The truth was, he needed someone there who wasn't a member of the FBI. He needed someone he could talk to without having to be 'The Great David Rossi," he needed to be able to be 'Davie' every once in awhile, and his oldest friend fit the bill for that job.

"I can stay for as long as you need me to," Jimmy said, knowing that his friend needed him, but would never ask him to stay. "Now let's go check on your daughter and wife."

Dave took a deep breath and stepped into the elevator that would take him back to the waiting room, where he would once again need to be strong.


	32. Chapter 32

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 32

**~Okay, I guess I was wrong when I said updates may not come as quickly...they still might not, I happened to have a light day at school today.**

**~Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I didn't have time to get back to each of you individually.**

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Dave found his daughter pacing the waiting room when he returned. As he stepped out of the elevator, he could see through glass door that she had a worried expression on her face. Thinking that something else might have gone wrong with his wife, he hurried into the room.

Abby, seeing her father return to the room, rushed over to greet him with a hug. "Are you okay?" She had been worried when he'd fled the room earlier. She knew he needed to fall apart and she knew he didn't want her seeing that, but she had worried about him, especially since he was recovering from his _own _gunshot wound.

"I'm fine," he told her as he returned the hug. He was a little surprised at her reaction to his absence, but he realized that after all that had happened, she was just as clingy as he was. "Look who I brought back with me," he said, stepping aside so his friend could enter the room.

"Jimmy!" Abby exclaimed, giving the priest a hug.

"Abby," he said gently. He expected her to look exhausted, both physically and emotionally, and her appearance lived up to those expectations. From what Dave had told him, the last twenty hours had been rough on both of them, and they both looked as though they could use some sleep. "How are you doing, honey?" He asked her as he released her from their embrace.

"I've seen better days," she told him, giving a shaky laugh. "I thought you were in Tucson?"

"I was, but when I heard what had happened, I decided to come here to see how my friends are doing. You and your father both look utterly exhausted, did either of you sleep at _all_ last night?" He asked.

Dave, who was still standing next to them, shook his head, "We only got about an hour's worth of sleep at the hotel. I forgot to cancel the wakeup call and it scared us both pretty badlyt." Seeing the look his friend was giving him made Dave go on the defensive, "Hey, we both tried to go back to sleep, but nothing worked so we came back here."

Jimmy was about to say something else when Hotch and Reid walked in carrying bags of food. "Lunchtime," they announced as they started unloading the hamburgers and fries out of the bags. The rest of the team gathered around the table, but Dave and Abby stood off to the side.

Seeing them not eating, Hotch approached the two Rossi's. "Do I need to make good on my threat of force feeding the both of you?"

Abby just shook her head, "I can't eat right now Uncle Aaron, just the smell is making me nauseous. I promise I'll grab some soup or something from the cafeteria after our next visit with mom."

He thought about it for a minute and reluctantly nodded, "Okay, but that had better happen within the next hour or two," he warned and then turned to his friend. "I don't care if you don't want to eat, you were shot less than twenty-four hours ago and you need to keep your strength up," he told him as he shoved a burger in his face. Dave reluctantly took it and began eating. He was worried about his daughter and he really wanted her to eat something and then sleep, but he knew better than to push it. He half-listened to the idle chit chat going on around him as he ate.

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True to her word, at around two o'clock that afternoon, Abby went to the cafeteria with Reid and Garcia and forced herself to eat some soup and half a sandwich. Many times during the meal, she needed to convince her stomach to keep the food down, but she finally finished her small lunch with few problems. After she ate, the three of them went back up to the ICU waiting room, where Abby propped herself against her dad and fell into a light and fitful sleep.

Dave, who was happy that his daughter had finally eaten, was relieved to see her sleeping, even if she was leaning against his injured shoulder. While the pressure of her head against his side was causing him some pain, he sucked it up and took some Tylenol instead of asking her to move. Her comfort and sleep were the most important things to him right now. Despite his pain, as he watched his daughter sleep, he felt his own eyes begin to grow heavy and before he knew it, he was dozing as well, using the top of her head as a pillow. They stayed like that for half an hour with the team and Jimmy just watching them. They awoke only when Dr. Kent entered the room and began speaking.

"Agent Rossi? Abby?" He said gently, hating to wake them.

Hearing the doctor's voice, both sets of eyes popped open.

"Is something wrong? Did something happen to Jennifer?" Dave asked, slightly disoriented from his sleep.

The doctor shook his head, "Quite the opposite actually. Your wife is making great progress, so we removed the breathing tube and now she's asking for the both of you."

"She's awake? She's talking?" Abby asked, also a bit discombobulated from her nap.

Dr. Kent nodded. "We're still going to keep her sedated, if only to keep her pain at bay, but the two of you can go back and talk to her for a few minutes if you would like."

Abby and Dave did not need to be told twice. They bolted from the couch and practically ran down the hallway to JJ's room. When they entered, they saw that the head of her bed was elevated, so she was in somewhat of a sitting position, and she was looking all around.

"Mom!" Abby exclaimed as she ran up to her bed. She wanted to throw her arms around her, but she knew that probably wouldn't be too good for her since she had just had major surgery. Instead she kissed her cheek and picked up her hand.

"Abby," JJ said tenderly, with a rasp in her voice. Dave let the two have a couple of seconds alone before he came up behind his daughter. Leaning past her, he gave his wife a kiss on her forehead and then stood back up.

"Jennifer," he breathed, not fully believing she was awake and doing well. Part of him was convinced that he was still asleep and dreaming.

"Dave," She said in the same voice as when she said Abby's name. Now that she was more awake, she remembered lying on the ground after she had been shot. She remembered asking Emily to convey her last words to her family and she teared up as she realized how lucky she was to be seeing them again.

Seeing the tears in his wife's eyes, Dave asked, "Are you in pain, Jennifer?"

"It's not too bad," she lied. In truth, she couldn't wait for the nurse to bring her a pain shot, but she didn't want to worry her husband and daughter since they both looked like they hadn't slept in a week.

As if reading her patient's mind, the nurse came in holding a syringe. "Time for your pain medicine, Jennifer," she announced as she injected the drug into her IV.

"We'll be waiting out in the waiting room mom, and we'll be here when you wake up again," Abby promised.

"I love you so much, baby," JJ said as she gave her daughter's hand a final squeeze.

"I love you too mom," she told her in a strangled voice. She was barely holding onto her tears and she didn't want to break down in front of her mother.

"Sleep well honey," Dave said, kissing her again, this time on the lips. "I love you."

"I love you too Dave," JJ said groggily, as the drugs began taking effect. "Take care of her," she said, looking at their daughter.

"I will, don't you worry about a thing, okay?" JJ nodded as her eyes closed and she drifted into unconsciousness once again.

Taking his daughter's hand, Dave led her back to the waiting room. As they walked, he began allowing himself to believe that everything would be okay.


	33. Chapter 33

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 33

**~Another big thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. Once again, I didn't have time to get back to each of you individually.**

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The rest of the day passed fairly quickly for everyone assembled at the hospital. Now that JJ was awake, Dave argued with the doctors and nurses to let them visit more often than ten minutes per hour, but his arguments fell on deaf ears. No matter how many ultimatums and threats he issued to the medical personnel, they wouldn't budge on the visiting schedule and he was reduced to simmering in the waiting room. When they were able to visit JJ, they found her to be in fairly good spirits, even if she was groggy from the pain medications they were giving her. She wasn't awake for every ten minute visit, but everyone was happy knowing that she was off of the ventilator and doing well.

As Saturday turned into night, Hotch had to once again practically force feed the two Rossi's their dinner. After that, he ordered Morgan, Garcia and Reid back to the hotel so they could get some sleep. Derek nearly had to drag Penelope out of the hospital, as she didn't want to leave her friend, but once Hotch again made it a direct order she grudgingly complied. He tried talking Abby and Dave into going back to the hotel, but they refused. They both knew that trying to sleep would be a wasted effort and both of them wanted to stay close to JJ now that she was awake and able to talk to them. Hotch argued with them for awhile, but finally gave in when they agreed to stretch out on the unoccupied sofas and try to sleep. He knew that until JJ was out of the woods and in her own private room in a normal hospital wing, her husband and daughter would be stuck to the hospital waiting room like glue.

Surprisingly, both Dave and Abby were able to sleep for a few hours. Abby let her injured father stretch out on the empty sofa, while she curled up in a chair. Both Hotch and Emily also dozed throughout the night, waking only to see JJ with Dave and Abby.

Even though she was heavily sedated, JJ could see the fatigue and stress on the faces of her daughter and husband. While she worried about both of them, she was especially concerned for Abby. She knew this was one of the things that Abby had feared most while growing up and she also knew that once she became too overloaded with emotional turmoil, her daughter's method of coping was to shut down. By the look on her face, JJ could tell she was nearly there.

After their ten o'clock visit that night, JJ asked Dave to stay behind for a minute. When she did, Abby shot them a worried look, but she allowed Hotch and Emily to lead her back to the waiting room. Once they were alone, JJ shared her concerns with her husband.

"How are you and Abby _really_ doing?" She asked. "And don't give me the standard 'we're fine' answer. I may be in the ICU, but I'm not blind and I can see that you both look like shit."

Dave sighed, "What can I tell you Jen? We're both doing the best we can, but it's not easy."

She gave a slight nod, "I know and I'm sorry-"

"Don't you _dare_ apologize for getting shot," Dave growled. "This was _not_ your fault."

"I know," she repeated, "but I'm worried about the both of you."

"Don't worry about us, you just focus on getting better," he ordered, "I'll take care of things on this end."

"Don't forget to take care of yourself, you were shot too!" She reminded him.

"I know I was, but I have Aaron and our daughter taking care of me, so I'll be fine," he told her.

JJ nodded as she began to doze, "Okay," she told him, knowing it was the best she would get.

As he walked back to the waiting area, he could see his daughter through the windows of the room and he realized his wife was right, Abby looked like shit.

"Why don't you and Abby go back to the hotel?" He asked Emily, as he entered the room. "You could both use some sleep and I can keep you updated via our cell phones." He purposely hadn't asked his daughter to go back to the hotel, as he knew what the answer would be, but he hoped that Emily could help convince her. As it turned out, it was a losing battle.

"Are you crazy?" Abby said from her chair, "That is _so_ not going to happen!"

"Honey-" Dave began, only to be cut off by her.

"No way dad! I'm staying here until we're absolutely sure that mom will be okay! Besides, what if she needs blood again? Do you really want me all the way across town?"

He was not in the mood to argue and he had much more important things to worry about other than her lack of sleep, so he gave in much too easily, "Fine, it was only a suggestion, you can stay here if you want."

She glared at him, "I _do_ want to," she told him.

"_Fine_," he repeated, testily this time, "At least try to sleep in your chair."

She nodded and pulled her jacket more tightly around her. Within minutes, she was dozing, and her father, Hotch and Emily followed suit shortly after.

Xxx

Sunday passed uneventfully; Dave and Abby visited JJ as much as they could and the team took turns going back to the hotel to rest. They tried all of their arguments to get Dave and Abby to return to the hotel on Sunday night, just to get a little shut-eye, but nothing worked, so Hotch and Emily once again stayed with them while the rest of the team slept.

At eight o'clock on Monday morning, the four of them were already awake when the rest of the team, plus Jimmy, arrived at the hospital. They brought bagels and everyone had one, including Abby, who managed to choke one down under her father's watchful eye. Shortly after their makeshift breakfast, Dr. Kent came in to update them.

"Jennifer is recovering much faster than we expected," he told them as he took a bite of an offered bagel. "Because she has shown such a marked improvement, we will be transferring her to a private hospital room later today."

"Does this mean she's going to be okay?" Abby asked, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

Dr. Kent looked at her for a minute, "Obviously I can't make any guarantees, but speaking off the record, I think your mother will eventually be fine."

Everyone in the room breathed a collective sigh of relief, and Dave and Abby smiled their first genuine smiles since the whole ordeal had begun.

"She'll still have a long recovery time, and we'll probably keep her here for another week or so, but I don't anticipate any long-term problems," the doctor told them.

"Will you still be her doctor once she's transferred?" Dave asked. He'd had Garcia run a full background check on Dr. Kent on Friday night and they learned he was considered to be one of the best trauma physicians in the country. Dave wanted him to stay on Jennifer's case and he was prepared to offer him anything that was necessary in order to keep him. As it turned out, he didn't have to.

"Yes, I'll still be your wife's lead physician," he said as his beeper went off. "If you'll excuse me," he said and then ran down the hallway. Thankfully it was in the opposite direction of JJ's room.

"That's great news guys," Hotch said, happy for his friend and niece.

"It really is," Dave said, with tears in his eyes.

"Does this mean we'll be able to see mom more?" Abby asked, also immensely relieved by her mother's prognosis.

"I would guess so," Dave told her.

"Awesome!"

Once everyone had eaten breakfast, most of the team left the hospital to run both personal and work related errands. Hotch was leery about leaving Dave and Abby unguarded, but Rossi assured him that they would be adequately protected by the NYPD officers that were still stationed in the waiting room. He finally left, taking Emily with him.

Once everyone was gone, Dave turned to his daughter and asked, "How are you doing, Pumpkin?"

"I'm okay, it's nice not having everyone hovering over us," she told him.

"Amen to that," he said. He loved his teammates, but they could be smothering when they were worried about someone, and they hadn't let up on him and Abby.

"How are _you_?" She asked, worried about his shoulder, "Should you be going to the ER for your antibiotics?"

Dave shook his head, "The last time I was there, the doc switched me over to pills," he told her as he pulled a bottle out of his pocket.

"Oh, okay," Abby said, "I guess that's-" Someone in the doorway caught her eye and she squealed, "Nonna!" She jumped up and ran to the older woman, throwing her arms around her in a fierce hug. Marie returned the embrace.

"How are you, Little One?" She asked softly, as she released her granddaughter.

"I'm okay," she said shakily, just barely holding on to her tears at seeing her grandmother.

Dave came up behind his daughter, and Marie looked him over. She saw the sling and the bulky bandages on his left shoulder, but didn't say anything. Instead she noticed the exhaustion and stress on his face. It was the same look that was on her granddaughter's face. She wanted to take charge and order them both to eat and then sleep, but she knew she couldn't; she had just arrived and she didn't want to start issuing orders. She kept this in mind as her son gave her a one-armed hug.

"How are you ma?" He asked, concerned about jet lag.

"I'm fine Davie, how are _you_?" She asked, hoping to get an honest answer from him.

"It's been a rough couple of days, but Jennifer seems to have turned a corner. The doctors are going to move her to a regular room later and they think she's going to be okay."

"Thank God," Marie breathed. She had been worried about her family, but now that she was here, some of that worry had left her.

At that moment, a nurse appeared. "Mr. Rossi?" Dave looked at her and nodded, "We've moved your wife to a new room," she told him. "It's room 100241. It's on the tenth floor and you can take the elevator up to see her if you would like."

Dave thanked her and practically ran for the elevator, with his mother and daughter close on his heels. Once they arrived at the tenth floor, they made their way to JJ's room and found her looking better than she had since the shooting.

"Hi mom," Abby said as she came to give her mother a light hug. She noticed that her mother seemed less logy than she had in the ICU and it was nice to see her smiling.

"Hi honey," she said and the repeated the greeting to her husband. She was surprised when she saw Marie step out from behind her son.

"Marie!" She exclaimed.

"Hello Jennifer," she said softly as she kissed her cheek. She was happy to see her daughter in law looking as good as she did. She still looked tired and weak, but it was much better than what Marie had been imagining. "How are you?" She asked.

"Well the good news is they don't have me sedated as much anymore," she said, "But the bad news is they've cut back on my pain medicine."

Dave frowned, "I'll go get someone-" He was cut off by his wife.

"No Dave, the pain isn't too bad and it's nice not being so loopy anymore," she told him.

Since they weren't limited to ten minute visits, they sat in the various chairs in JJ's room while they waited for the rest of the team to return. They finally did later in the evening, and for a little while it resembled a party in JJ's room. At around eight o'clock, the nurse finally kicked all of them out, citing JJ's need for rest.

Everyone grumbled as they left, but JJ asked Marie to stay for a minute.

"I need you to convince my husband and daughter to go back to the hotel to rest, they both look horrible." JJ said, sleepily.

"I saw that too, Jennifer, but I just arrived and I don't know if it's my place to tell-" JJ interrupted the older woman, "It _is_ your place, you're the only one they'll listen to, and even then you'll probably have to argue with them. I'm worried about them Marie; they're both running on fumes at this point and they need to rest, please help me with this." JJ was nearly pleading at the end and Marie knew what she had to do.

"All right Jennifer, somehow I will get them to go back to the hotel tonight," she promised and then left the room. On her short walk back to the waiting area, she took a deep breath and shored up her resolve.

"Okay," she said as she entered the lounge area, "Here's how it's going to work tonight; Aaron and Emily will return to the hotel, taking David and Abby with them. Spencer, Penelope, Derek, Jimmy and I will stay here in case Jennifer needs anything during the night and then tomorrow, after a large breakfast, we'll switch places."

Jimmy and the team members all nodded, but Dave and Abby shook their heads.

"I'm staying here ma," Dave told her.

"Me too," Abby chimed in.

Marie shook her head, "No you're not," she told them. "You both need your rest, and you need to eat, so Aaron and Emily will take you out for a large dinner and then you'll return to the hotel to sleep. I don't want to see any of you back before ten o'clock tomorrow."

"I'm sorry ma, but that's not going to happen," Dave told her. There was no way he was leaving his wife for over twelve hours.

"It _is_ happening Davie," Marie argued. She saw that her son was about to open his mouth to argue, so she kept going. "Davie, JJ is worried about both you and Abby. She asked me to try and force you both to go back to the hotel tonight. I think she'll sleep better if she knows you both are also resting."

Dave sighed, his mother knew right where to hit him. "Fine," he said in defeat, "Abby and I will go back to the hotel."

Abby was somewhat pissed that her dad and grandmother were making that decision for her, but she decided not to push it with either one of them. She sighed as she kissed her grandmother goodbye and gathered up her things. She followed her father out of the waiting area and the four of them caught the elevator to the parking garage.

Once they were out on the streets of the city, Emily directed Hotch to a nice Italian restaurant she had eaten at a few times. They four of them had a great meal there, with Dave and Abby eating more than they had all weekend. Afterwards, they trekked to the hotel, greeted the NYPD guards and went to their respective rooms.

As they entered their room, Abby took one look at the comfortable beds and wanted to do nothing more than collapse onto one of them, but she knew she needed to shower first.

"Do you mind if I take the first shower tonight?" She asked her dad.

"Go ahead, I have to make some phone calls anyway," he told her.

The hot shower felt like heaven to the teenager, and she stayed under the spray for twenty minutes. She would have stayed in it for longer, but she was tired and she could feel herself falling asleep on her feet. She finally stepped out of the shower, got into her pajamas and quickly brushed her teeth before going back into the room.

"Feeling better Pumpkin?" Dave asked as he grabbed his duffel bag.

She nodded, "I feel cleaner anyway," she said as she got into her bed. "Goodnight dad," she said as she rolled onto her side.

"Night honey," he told her as he went into the bathroom.

Twenty-five minutes later, Dave emerged from the shower, also feeling cleaner. His shower took a little longer because he had to make sure he didn't get his stitches too wet. While he felt cleaner, the warm water irritated his wound and his pain level had ratcheted up a couple of notches. As he brushed his teeth at the sink, he heard a thump come from the bedroom.

'Damn,' he thought, 'I really hoped she'd stay asleep.' He knew both he and his daughter needed to rest, and he was determined that she was going to sleep, whether she wanted to or not. He frowned as he heard another loud thump in the room and after spitting out his toothpaste, he went to investigate.

He expected to see Abby pawing through her book bag looking for something. Instead, when he walked into the room, he saw a man standing in the middle of the room, and he had a knife to his daughter's throat.


	34. Chapter 34

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 34

**~This is a fairly short chapter, but I have an early class so I can't write as much as I usually do, but I wanted to resolve the cliffhanger.**

**~Thanks yet again to everyone who reviewed chapter 33. I didn't have time to respond to all of the reviews _and _write this chapter. Reviews are what keep me going, so keep 'em coming!**

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When Dave stepped out of the bathroom and saw some guy standing in the middle of the room holding a knife to his daughter's throat, he felt his brain shut down. This was literally his worst nightmare come true. He felt like he was back in that bank with his sister, but instead it was his daughter's life that was in danger. He briefly wondered if he was asleep, but he knew he wasn't, he knew he was awake and he somehow had to save Abby.

He felt his brain start up again and he assessed the situation in a split second. He was injured so his reaction times were slower, and his gun was ten feet away from him in the night table drawer. He quickly glanced at the table, calculating the time it would take to grab it and shoot the guy, when he spoke.

"Don't even try it, you dumb fuck," he said calmly. "By the time your hand hits the drawer handle, I'll have your daughter's neck cut open like a Christmas ham. You would still be able to shoot me, but you would have to do it through the blood spraying from her throat."

Dave got a mental image of that and shuddered, he obviously had to avoid that at all costs. He swung his eyes back to the intruder and studied him. He was a skinny little prick, but Dave could tell he had muscles underneath his shirt. His clothes were somewhat ragged, and he looked like he could use a good meal, but he also looked strong and he had a burning hatred in his eyes. The hand that was holding the knife against Abby's throat was steady, and he had a firm grip on it. He had enough self control to press the knife firmly against her throat, but not so hard that it drew blood as he must have known that the sight of his daughter's blood would have escalated the situation for Dave.

As he studied the man who was currently threatening his daughter's life, Dave tried to formulate a plan to get them out of there alive, but he wasn't coming up with anything. He wondered where in the hell the NYPD guards were. It frustrated the hell out of him to know that Hotch was staying in the room next to him, but he couldn't signal him to let him know something was wrong without getting his daughter killed. As it was, he was hoping for a peaceful resolution to the conflict. At the very least, he hoped he could trade his life for his daughter's.

As that last thought hit him, he went from 'Agent Rossi' to 'dad' and he studied his daughter. She was absolutely terrified and with good reason. Her eyes were huge and he could see the terror in them. She was deathly pale and shaking slightly and the expression on her face was a mix between horror and panic. As he studied her face, he could see that her lip was split and the skin around her left eye was beginning to swell. Based on her facial injuries, if he had to guess he would say that the thumps he heard while in the bathroom was this fucker striking Abby. The asshole was going to die for that; that was for goddamn sure.

Dave's mental threats against the intruder were interrupted by his voice. "Ah, the great Agent Rossi," he said sarcastically. "BAU profiling legend, player with the ladies, best-selling author extraordinaire, millionaire many times over, husband to four including Jennifer Jareau, and father to Abigail Jareau."

Dave remained silent, not knowing what the prick wanted from him. The intruder continued to list his knowledge regarding Dave's life. "What the biographies don't tell us is that you're a life wrecking, meddling, asshole who takes pleasure in causing people pain. The stories about your success don't tell how you're a shitty husband who can't commit to save his life. They don't let the general public know that you like to swoop in and steal other people's happiness. They don't describe the monster that you are!"

Still not knowing what the guy wanted, other than to scare him by threatening his daughter, Dave replied with a calmness he didn't feel, "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage," he said. "You know all of these things about me, yet I know nothing about you."

"How rude of me," the guy said with a mock politeness, "I can't believe I forgot to formally introduce myself." Dave watched as his grip tightened around the hair at the back of his daughter's head. "Why don't you go ahead and introduce me to your father, Abby," the intruder suggested.

Abby, who was so scared she could barely function, remained silent. She didn't do it out of resistance or to be defiant, she did it because she was literally too frightened to speak.

The intruder yanked back on her hair and increased the pressure on the knife that was against her neck. "Do it now!" He ordered.

Dave watched in horror as the scene unfolded in front of him. He knew Abby was too scared to speak, but he also knew that if she didn't do what he said within the next few seconds, the guy would slit her throat. If that happened, Dave knew he would die too. He simply couldn't live through seeing another family member murdered in front of him. He prayed that she would find her voice and follow the intruder's instructions. Thankfully, God was taking his call that day and he heard his daughter clear her throat.

"D-dad," she stammered, "m-m-meet Will LaMontagne."


	35. Chapter 35

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 35

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As soon as his daughter said the intruder's name, Dave knew the situation had gone from bad to worse. This wasn't some professional hit man with no emotional ties to his targets, this was personal. Dave's hope that he could buy the contract from him flew out the window as he realized Will had an axe to grind with both of the women in his life and with him, as he had surely figured out that it was Dave who had directed Garcia to ruin his electronic life.

Will, seeing the flash of recognition in Dave's eyes said, "So the Great David Rossi remembers a little peon like me." He was still holding on tightly to the back of Abby's head, and the knife he was holding against her throat hadn't moved an inch.

"Of course I remember you. I may not have met you before but you broke my daughter's arm and split my wife's lip. I would never forget that." Even though they were in the middle of a hopeless situation, Dave still managed to sound menacing, which pissed Will off.

"Don't try to intimidate me Rossi, I'm not the one who should be scared here, _you _should be." As he said this, he increased the pressure slightly on the tip of the knife and Dave watched as a thin trail of blood began to make its way down Abby's neck.

"My employer," Will continued, "Said I could make this as easy or painful as I wanted, they only want the three of you dead. Since my associate is taking care of Jennifer right now, everyone will be busy with that, so I'm leaning towards making this as difficult as possible on the two of you." As he spoke, he began to leer down at Abby and Dave instantly knew the way in which he would make his death painful. The fucker planned to violate his daughter while he watched. Will saw the look of dawning in the older man's eyes and nodded, "We're going to have some fun tonight!" He cackled.

Dave knew he couldn't let that happen, he had to do _something_ to stall for time. Eventually _someone _would check on them, wouldn't they? As he replayed Will's words in his head, he had to block out the part about his associate 'taking care of' his wife. He prayed that his team members and the NYPD would be able to protect his wife because if he focused on that, he would be of no use to his daughter...he would completely lose his mind.

"Why are you doing this, LaMontagne? Dave asked, trying to buy some time. "You used to be a cop for Christ's sake! You used to chase after hit men!" It worked, Will was more than happy to answer his questions; in his arrogant mind he had all the time in the world to kill the two other people in the room and he wanted to play with them first.

"Why am I doing this?" He repeated. "I'm doing this because I can't _do_ anything else! Thanks to you, I can't get a job as a fucking janitor, much less as a cop." Dave remained silent, waiting for Will to explain his rationale.

"I was able to get my old job back when I returned to New Orleans, but after about a year I started hearing rumblings from some of the higher ups. I talked to a captain I knew from one of the other precincts and he told me the esteemed David Rossi had called some of the chiefs in the department and let them know that I had beaten up a woman and her daughter in Washington. My contact told me you put the pressure on them to get rid of me, saying that the woman in question was an influential member of the FBI and if they wanted any help from the Bureau in the future, it would be in their best interest if I was no longer employed by NOPD. A few weeks after that, my own captain called me in to his office and let me know that they were letting me go due to 'budget cuts.' Funny, I was the only one laid off." Will's voice had steadily increased during his telling of the story and Rossi hoped it was enough to alert Hotch to their situation.

"But surely you could have gotten another job somewhere? You didn't have to turn to a life of crime!" Dave told him.

"The fuck I didn't!" Will exclaimed. "I thought the same thing when I was fired, I thought that I would be able to work on another nearby department or at least for a private security firm, but it turns out that I had been placed on many government terrorist watch lists. Not only that, but my name had turned up on numerous sex offender databases! How the fuck was I supposed to get a job anywhere after that? They thought I was a child raping terrorist!" He paused to calm down, and when he next spoke, it was in a lower voice. "Don't think I don't know that Penelope Garcia played a large role in fucking up my life. I'll pay her a little visit just as soon as I'm done with the two of you."

The situation wasn't getting any better, but they were both still alive, so it really wasn't getting any worse. Dave wanted to keep LaMontagne talking for as long as possible, so he kept questioning him.

"They're my family and you hurt them. Did you really think I could let that go?" He asked quietly.

Will snorted in an angry laughter, "It was done and over with by the time you entered the picture, you _should _have just let it go. You had no idea what it was like man! JJ was always riding my ass about finding a job, or about quitting drinking. What the fuck did she expect? I tried to find a job in Washington, but no one wanted to hire a guy with an associate's degree from some podunk community college in Louisiana. Hell, most detectives on DCPD have their master's degree! And this one here," Will said, jerking back on Abby's hair and causing her to flinch. "This one here never left us the fuck alone! Every time we were at the apartment, so was she! And JJ had a rule about not sleeping together while she was in the apartment, so I never got any from her! It got to the point where we would have quickies while Abby was in the shower. I mean, don't get me wrong, when we finally had it the sex was good, great in fact, but because of this little bitch," Will again yanked Abby's hair, "we would only get to have it a few times a week." Will paused and then decided to push one of Dave's buttons. "But look who I'm talking to, I don't have to tell you how good JJ is in the sack. Tell me, does she still do that thing with her mouth that-"

"Shut the fuck up, you little pissant!" Dave said tightly.

Will tsk tsk'd, "Ah, temper temper Dave. I'm calling the shots here, not you! And if I want to talk about what a good lay your wife is, then I fucking will. Otherwise, we can move straight to the festivities." Will once again began leering at Abby and Dave felt his blood run cold.

"No! I'm sorry, you're right, you're calling the shots here," Dave said, playing into his game. He would do anything to keep his daughter alive.

"That's better," he said with a grin, as he saw the legendary profiler cowering. "I gotta tell you, killing you in person is going to be _much_ more satisfying than shooting you from afar like earlier, although those sniper scopes almost made it seem like I was there. The look on JJ's face as she went down was priceless, as was yours when you realized what happened."

"Let Abby go, Will," Dave pleaded. "You have me and you have JJ but Abby's an innocent child. Leave her out of this."

Will shook his head, "Sorry, no can do. My employer made it very clear to me that the three of you had to die, and that you had to be the one to die last. Let me tell you, when this job came up, I clamored for it; hell, I would have done it for free! Knowing that the three of you are going to die, and horribly at that, gives me a tingly feeling inside. You would have been dead already if it weren't for circumstances beyond my control."

Dave had been watching his daughter while Will was talking and he could see that her feeling of terror was growing. She had been on her feet the entire time, and she she had begun to shake. When Will talked about what he wanted to do to her, she had paled and her teeth chattered slightly. Dave knew that if he got them out of here alive, he would have to work hard to get her past the events of the last ten minutes.

"What kind of circumstances were those?" Dave asked, still trying to buy some time for them.

"I had the shittiest luck that day. First, the wind had been fairly strong and I'd compensated for that, but as soon as I got into position, it shifted direction so I had to guess the trajectory the bullets would take. As a result, JJ's bullet landed in her chest, instead of her head. Then you moved just as I was taking my shot at you and your bullet ended up barely injuring you." Will paused to reflect on his luck and then continued. "You guys also started the press conference half an hour early, which fucked with killing this one here," Will gave another yank at Abby's hair when he said this. "My associate had planned to kill Abby while I killed you, but he couldn't get into position fast enough, once you fucked with the time, and that goddamn agent you left her with whisked her to the airport so fast, he didn't even have time to take a potshot at her."

Hearing about how Will had planned on murdering his wife and daughter fueled Dave's anger, and he was no longer able to stay civil towards the man.

"You son of a bitch, do you really expect me to feel sorry for you that your plans fell through? This is my _family_ you're talking about, you little maggot! How can a former cop sit there and describe how he's going to kill someone else's family? Have you no pride? No sense of decency?"

"ENOUGH!" Will roared, and both Rossi's flinched. "The time for talking has passed and the time for action has arrived," he said with a wicked smile as he leaned closer to Abby.

Dave was watching from six feet away and he felt utterly helpless to do anything to help her. He knew that any action he took would most likely get her instantly killed, as Will was holding the knife directly over her carotid artery. As long as she was alive, he had a chance to save her.

"I swear to everything that's holy, if you hurt a single hair on her head, I will make you regret it for the rest of your miserable life, although that time might not amount to much." Dave said in quiet but lethal voice.

A cocky grin came over Will's face. "You mean if I do this," he yanked viciously on Abby's hair, jerking her head back, "You're not going to like it?"

"No and you're not going to like the consequences," Dave growled.

"Well what about this?" He asked as he moved the knife to the other side of her throat. He then pressed the tip of the knife against the skin and another small stream of blood began making it's way down Abby's neck, although this time the cut was deeper and longer.

"I'm warning you Will," Dave began, but was interrupted by the psycho.

"When the fuck are you going to learn that you're not in charge here, Rossi?" He shouted. "How the fuck are you going to stop me? Even if I didn't have this knife to your daughter's throat, you would still be powerless to stop me! You're hurt! You can't do the one thing your wife and daughter need you to do and that's protect them! You're going to watch your daughter die a horrible death knowing that if you were more of a man, you would have been able to save her. And she'll die knowing the same thing."

"That's not going to happen, LaMontagne," Dave said calmly.

"Really? Who's going to stop me?" He asked, pressing the knife harder against Abby's neck.

"I am," a voice piped up from near the front door.

Will spun around and saw Hotch in the doorway and that's when all hell broke loose in the room.


	36. Chapter 36

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 36

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As soon as Will heard Hotch's voice from the doorway, he spun around to face him, dragging Abby with him. He saw the gun the FBI agent had trained on him and said cockily, "Go ahead and shoot me, I'm not afraid to die, but I'll be sure to take this one with me."

Hotch didn't say anything, he just kept the gun trained on the center of Will's forehead, but he knew the former cop was right. Hotch knew that even if he shot Will right between the eyes, he would be able to cut Abby's throat before he died. Hell, even if he didn't have enough time to purposely cut her, he could slash her throat just by falling to the ground. For the first time in his professional life, Hotch was torn about what to do and Will could tell. Emily, who had come in behind Hotch also kept her gun trained on Will, but like her boss, she didn't know what to do.

"You kill me, I kill her. You know, even if you're the best shot in the world, I'll still kill her before I die, so why don't you put your fucking gun down?" Will said. From behind them, Rossi moved to grab his own gun and Will heard this, spinning back around to face him.

When he did that, Abby felt the knife slide away from the pulse of her carotid artery and she knew this was her one chance to get out of his clutches. Remembering everything her mother and uncle had taught her about self defense, she brought her elbow back as hard as she could, right into Will's stomach.

With a loud "Ooof!" Will bent forward, trying to catch his breath. As he did, he dragged the knife down with him and away from Abby's throat. Once her neck area was cleared, Hotch fired his gun, shooting Will in the shoulder and he went down, dragging Abby with him. They both hit the ground with a thud, and both Hotch and Rossi could see blood start to spread out on the carpeting beneath them.

"Oh God, ABBY!" Rossi yelled in a choked voice. What if Will had regained his hold on the knife and had stabbed her? What if she'd landed on the knife as she fell to the ground? What if Hotch had missed and shot her instead? Some of the blood he was seeing could be hers! He quickly pulled the half-conscious and moaning ex-cop off of his daughter and saw that she was laying on the floor in a daze.

"Pumpkin," he said as he gently pulled her up from the ground, "Are you all right?" She was half-covered in blood and he needed to know she was okay before he could think about anything else.

"I-I think s-s-so," she stammered as she ran her hands over her body. Her scalp and neck were sore from the times Will had yanked back on her hair, her face was hurting in the places where he had hit her, the front of her neck was bleeding in many places and she had a headache from when her head hit the ground after Will fell on top of her, but other than that she was physically unhurt.

Dave breathed a sigh of relief, although he could see the blood trailing down her neck from the cuts Will had made. He reached for her, intending to pull her into a hug, when she jerked her hand out of his and shrieked, "Don't touch me!"

Her reaction startled Dave and he dropped his hand, "I was just going to hug you Pumpkin," he said softly.

"NO! Nobody touches me!" She yelled, hysteria evident in her voice. She stood by herself in the middle of the room as she tried to make sense of what had just happened. She had almost DIED! A psycho from her and her mother's past had come here and nearly raped and killed her and her dad! Not only that, it was the psycho who consistently haunted her nightmares! Her mind was overloaded by the events of the past ten minutes and she just stood and shook.

Dave could see his daughter trying and failing to process the latest events. She looked so young and small standing there in the center of the room, hugging herself and shaking. He could see the terror and panic in her eyes and he wanted to run over to her and fold her into an embrace, but he didn't. He knew that between seeing him and JJ shot, watching her mother flat line in the ICU, barely sleeping and now this, she was close to the edge and he didn't want to push her over, so instead he spoke softly to her.

"What hurts, baby?" He asked softly.

"M-my neck and…and my h-h-head and…and…" She couldn't get the words out; her brain was so overloaded that she could hardly speak."

"Okay honey, I'm going to have Emily help you wash up and get changed so we can go back to the hospital, alright?" He asked gently and Abby nodded and started walking towards the bathroom. About halfway there, she remembered something Will had said.

"Mom!" She exclaimed, "He s-said someone was going t-t-to the hospital to…" She couldn't finish the sentence, but thankfully her uncle read her mind.

"Your mom is fine Abby," Hotch told her. "I was talking to Derek on the phone right before we came over here, and he said someone tried getting to her, but he was stopped. Everyone at the hospital is _fine_."

She processed the new information for a second and then nodded emotionlessly and walked into the bathroom. Emily picked up a Hello Kitty duffel bag and followed her. As she was a step away from the bathroom door, she heard a hoarse "Prentiss," and turned around to face Dave.

"Make sure none of the blood is hers. She's in shock right now and she might not know if she's been hurt."

Emily nodded, "Don't worry Dave," she said gently, "I'll take care of her."

He nodded and Emily walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. As soon as that happened, Dave's knees buckled and he sat down hard onto one of the beds. "Jesus," he breathed, "That was too close." He put his face in his hands and tried to calm down. He knew he had been minutes away from seeing his daughter die a brutal death at the hands of a madman. Suddenly he remembered what Aaron had said and looked up at him. "Did you mean what you said about Jennifer?" He asked, "Is she really okay?"

Hotch nodded, "She's fine, the guy didn't get close to her. Apparently Will's partner dressed up as a doctor to try to get to JJ, but when they had a code blue at the end of the hallway and he had no idea what he was doing, it became apparent that he wasn't a real doctor. NYPD arrested him, and he's sitting in a jail cell right now. Morgan called to tell me what happened and that's when I heard shouts coming from your room. I grabbed Prentiss and we both came to investigate."

"Thank God you did," Dave said and then heard LaMontagne moan as he started to regain consciousness. "Why didn't you kill that fucker?" He asked, wanting nothing more than to kill the little prick himself.

Hotch shrugged, "I couldn't get a head shot that didn't also risk Abby's life. Plus, I want to be able to question him. Did he tell you why he was going to kill you?"

Dave nodded, "Apparently his 'employer' wants thel three of us dead." Dave paused and took a shuddery breath, "Jesus Christ, Hotch. We were _minutes_, if not seconds away from death…he had Abby and was…" He couldn't get the rest of the words out.

"I know Dave, I know, but you _did_ live and you got Abby out alive. If he came into your room at the same time as his associate entered the hospital, then you must have stalled for time, and _that's_what saved you and your daughter." Seeing the older man start to shake, Hotch said, "I know this has been hard on you, but you can't fall apart right now; you have a wife and daughter who are going to need you, so suck it up and get it together before Abby comes back out here."

"Awww, is the legendary profiler crying?" Will said mockingly from the ground. He was lying on his back and his hands were cuffed behind him and his shoulder hurt like hell, but he couldn't resist pushing some of Rossi's buttons. And it worked. Without consciously thinking about it, Dave grabbed his gun from the bedside table and strode over to where Will was laying. He knelt down beside the ex-cop and placed the barrel of the gun between his eyes.

"You fucking, lowlife, piece of shit! It wouldn't have been enough to just kill us, no; you had to make it personal. You had to threaten my daughter, you had to make sure this was something she would never forget. and you had to make it horrible for us. I _am_ going to kill you, you fucking coward, and I'm going to take pleasure in ridding the world of a shitbag like you." He released the safety and was about to put his finger on the trigger, when Hotch's voice penetrated through the rage in his brain.

"Don't do it Dave, not like this," he told him.

"Why the fuck not? Why shouldn't I kill this little fucker right where he is?" Dave asked, his index finger moving onto the trigger.

"Because your daughter has been through enough tonight without knowing her father killed someone in cold blood," Hotch told him.

"She'll be glad I killed him," Dave growled.

"You know she hates violence, she _won't _be glad you killed him. And is that how you want her to see you from now on, as someone who could kill another person in cold blood?" Hotch asked. "Let him go Dave, let me take him in. We'll interrogate both of them and find out who their employer is. Until the employer is caught, you, JJ and Abby aren't safe."

Dave considered what Aaron had said and slowly lowered the gun. "Okay, but if he gives you any grief, kill him. Also, be sure to let all of his cellmates know that he's a decorated former cop." Will had been wearing a smug look on his face, but after Dave's instruction, his look turned to one of fear.

While Dave and Hotch were talking, Emily and Abby were in the bathroom, trying to clean Will's blood off of her. They both eventually decided that a shower was the only thing that would get Abby completely clean. As she helped the teenager undress, Emily surreptitiously stole glances at her body, making sure she wasn't hurt anywhere else. The only injuries Emily saw were bruises, which were most likely from the fall, and the more obvious cuts on her throat and face. Breathing a sigh of relief, Emily watched as Abby shakily entered the shower and drew the curtain closed.

Emily sat on the lid of the closed toilet and waited for Abby to finish her shower. She could have left the room while the girl showered, but she wanted to be nearby in case she needed anything. As she sat there, Emily thought about the Rossi family and sent a silent prayer up to the fates asking them to spare this family from any further pain. She couldn't imagine how Abby was coping with all she'd seen and been through the last couple of days, and she knew the girl was close to her breaking point.

After about ten minutes, the shower stopped and a hand thrust out from the shower curtain and grabbed a towel off of the rack. Emily could see that Abby's hand was still shaking and she didn't know how to help her. A minute later, the shower curtain opened and Abby stepped out, wrapped tightly in her towel. Emily sighed, the girl looked a little better, but the wounds on her neck were still bleeding and Emily guessed she would probably need stitches.

She helped Abby get dressed and thirty minutes after they entered the bathroom, they stepped out again. Abby was relieved to see that Will was out of the room and that someone had put a towel over the blood on the floor. She wordlessly walked over to the bed and sat down.

Dave sat down next to her, "Feel better Pumpkin?" He asked and she nodded mutely. He reached out to wrap his arm around her shoulders and his heart clenched when she once again recoiled from his touch. She wasn't as vocal about it this time, but he respected her wishes and pulled his arm away from her.

"Where's Will?" She asked, and Dave could hear a scared little girl in her voice.

"He's gone honey, NYPD came to get him."

"Wh-what happened t-t-to the guards?" She really didn't want to know, as she was certain Will had killed them.

"They're fine Abby," Hotch said gently. "Will used a tazer on both of them and then hid their unconscious bodies in the housekeeping closet. They're at the hospital right now getting checked out, but they looked fine to me."

"Speaking of hospitals, what do you say we get back to your mother's hospital room?" Dave wanted to see with his own eyes that his wife was okay.

Abby wordlessly nodded, and everyone got up and walked out the door, intent on catching a cab back to the hospital.


	37. Chapter 37

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 37

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The ride to the hospital was a quiet one. As he drove, Hotch wondered how much more the Rossi family could take and still remain a strong family unit. He was worried about all three of them. While Hotch knew it was a sexist notion, Dave, as the man of the family, had to bear the responsibility of taking care of JJ and Abby and he wondered how long his friend could go on before breaking himself. Speaking of breaking, he thought as he glanced in the rearview mirror at his nearly catatonic pseudo niece, he wondered if Abby would ever be the same again. He knew the girl had been through a lot this week and it scared him to see her look so broken. And then there was JJ, who was physically broken. Would she be able to physically heal while her family was going through so much? How would the physical threat hinder her own recovery? As if reading his stormy thoughts, Emily, who was in the front seat of the SUV, reached over, took his hand and gently caressed it while he drove.

Seeing Emily and Hotch holding hands only reminded Dave of his daughter's new hatred of being touched. All he wanted to do was hold her in his arms and assure her that everything would be all right, but she wouldn't let him even hold her hand, much less hug her. Deep down he knew it was a reaction to the events that had taken place in the hotel room less than an hour previous. He could tell she figured out what Will was going to do to her before he killed her, and he knew the idea horrified her. As he snuck a glance at her, he saw that she was staring at the back of the front seat, still wide eyed and silent. She still had a wild look in her eyes and it frightened him a little. He knew it would take a lot of work to get her past the events of the night, but he knew that both he and Jennifer could do it.

Abby could feel her father's eyes on her, but she didn't care. She was somewhat aware that she was scaring the hell out of everyone, but she couldn't help it. She had to shut her mind down because if she thought about Will and what he had nearly done just an hour ago, she would completely lose it and once that happened, she didn't know if she would ever be able to stop being scared. As they grew nearer to the hospital, Abby wondered if she would ever feel happiness again, because for the last few days all she had felt was sadness and fear. She wondered if that was to be her family's new normal.

As the hospital came into sight, Dave directed Hotch to go to the ER.

"Why?" The unit chief asked.

"Dr. Robinson is on duty tonight and I want him to look at Abby. Her neck is still bleeding and she took a hell of a fall. I want to make sure she's okay before we go see Jennifer." It killed Dave to postpone seeing his wife, as he needed to see with his own eyes that she was unharmed, but his daughter was injured and her needs had to come first.

He realized just how out of it Abby was when she didn't argue with him about going to the ER. Normally she threw tantrums that would make six year-olds proud when anyone even _mentioned_ her going to the doctor. Now she just nodded mutely, not looking at him.

Hotch parked the SUV and the four of them walked into the busy ER. As he did before, Dave strode up to the window and asked to see Dr. Robinson. Even though he didn't have an appointment for a wound check, the doctor must have left word that if Rossi came down to the department he was to be seen immediately, because the triage nurse buzzed them in and directed them to exam room eight.

"Prentiss," Dave said, "Can you go up to Jennifer's room and let her know what happened to us tonight? If she sees Abby without any warning, it will frighten her and I want to avoid that if possible."

"Of course," Emily said and moved towards the door. She caught Rossi's eye and motioned him over to the other side of the room. "When I was helping her get undressed, I noticed a large bruise on her hip and a few smaller ones on her upper back. You might want to have the doctor look at them," she told him.

"Thanks Em. Please make sure Jen knows we're all right and that we'll be up to see her as soon as possible."

"I will Dave," she assured him and then slipped out the door.

Dr. Robinson entered the small room less than five minutes later.

"Agent Rossi, what can I do for you?" He asked and then saw a bruised and battered Abby sitting on the exam table. He could tell at once by the girl's face that she had been physically beaten and emotionally traumatized. He could also see that her neck was bleeding in a few spots and he guessed by the way she was sitting that she had a couple of bruises elsewhere on her body.

Dave explained all that had happened and the doctor nodded along as he listened. " I can tell you right now she's going to need stitches in a few spots on her neck. I have to finish up with another patient and then I'll be back," he said as he reached into a cabinet. "I need you to put this gown on while I'm gone," he said to Abby as he put the item into her trembling hands. "I should be back in about fifteen minutes."

"Thanks doc," Dave said gratefully as the young resident exited the room. Dave turned back to his daughter. "I'm going to step outside with Hotch so you can get changed," he told her. He got one step away from her when he felt her hand grab his.

"Don't go," she said in a high pitched voice.

"I'm not going anywhere honey, I'll be right outside the door."

She tightened her grip on his hand. "Don't leave me alone!"

Hearing the panic in her voice, Dave said gently, "Okay Pumpkin, I won't leave." As he spoke, he gave her hand a gentle squeeze, grateful that she was allowing the contact.

"I'm going to step outside, I'll guard the room from out in the hallway," Hotch told them as he exited the small cubicle.

Once they were alone, Dave picked up the gown. "Can you change into this by yourself, or do you need help?" He asked.

"I can do it myself," she said softly. Even in her low tone of voice, Dave could hear the hysteria lurking just beneath the surface.

"Okay," he said, reluctantly letting go of her hand, "I'm going to turn my back so you can change." He turned around and studied the medical posters on the wall while Abby swapped her clothing for the uncomfortable hospital gown. After a minute or two, he heard her say in a shaky voice, "I'm done, you can turn around." He did and saw her struggling to tie the back of the gown. He brushed her hands away and tied it himself. As he did, he saw the bruises lining her back and once again cursed Will LaMontagne to the depths of hell.

Once the gown was tied, Dave stood next to Abby and once again reached for her hand. He was happy when she allowed him to hold it, instead of recoiling from his touch. He really wanted to throw his arms around her and assure her that everything would be okay, but he knew that would be too much, too fast, so he remained content just holding her hand.

True to his word, Dr. Robinson appeared within fifteen minutes and began examining Abby. He poked and prodded some of her bruises and asked her questions about the cause of injuries and her level of pain. Normally the teen would be very vocal about the pain he was causing, but right now he got one word answers from her. This was a very different girl than the one who had sat with her father while he was getting his IV antibiotics and he knew the events of the past few days had finally caught up with her.

Once he finished his exam he proclaimed her to be in good health, all things considered. He assured Dave that none of his daughter's bones were broken and none of the bruises required anything more than time to fade. He then quickly stitched up her neck and gave her antibiotic ointment for the stitches the split in her lip. Once he was done, he told Abby she could get dressed and walked towards the door.

Dave started after him, "Dr. Robinson, wait," he said and then turned back to Abby. "I'm not leaving the room Pumpkin; I just want to talk to the doctor for a minute."

Abby nodded and Dave turned towards the doctor, "What about her refusal to talk? Her not wanting to be physically touched?"

"I would guess it's a reaction to the emotional trauma she suffered tonight; she's trying to block it out of her mind. She should get past it in a couple of days, but if you'd like I could have psych come down and evaluate her."

"How long will that take?" Dave asked, anxious to see his wife.

"On a night like tonight? Probably another couple of hours. Also, she'll probably see the psych resident on duty," Dr. Robinson told him. Seeing the indecision on Dave's face, he told him, "Look Agent Rossi, with all that your daughter has been though, this isn't a totally unexpected reaction. My advice is to give it a couple of days and if she's still withdrawn, you can bring her back here and then I can call psych."

Dave nodded his agreement, "Okay, let's do it that way. Thanks again doc," Rossi said, shaking the younger man's hand.

"Any time sir, now go take care of your family," he directed, and Dave did just that.

After Abby was dressed, he helped her off of the exam table and led her out the door, where they met up with Hotch. The three of them took the elevator to the tenth floor and then made their way to JJ's room. Once there, Dave stepped inside with Abby following behind him.

"Jen, thank God," he said hoarsely as he rushed over to her and gave her a gentle hug. Now that he saw she was okay, he felt himself begin to break a little.

"I'm fine honey" she said as he released her, "But what about-oh my God, Abby?" Abby had stepped into the room and JJ got her first look at her daughter's bruised face. As she studied the girl, she realized her vacant expression bothered her more than the physical injuries. Emily had told them about the attack, and about Abby's withdrawal into herself, but JJ didn't know it was this bad. She wanted Abby to come over to her so she could hug and kiss her, but she stood off to the side of everyone, hugging herself with her arms.

"The doc said she should be fine in a few days," Dave said softly.

"My God Dave, what happened over there?" She asked.

"You mean Emily didn't tell you?"

JJ shook her head, "She gave me the cliff note version, but no details. Who would do this to us?"

"Will," Dave said resignedly. He knew his wife didn't need the additional stress of knowing that her ex had inflicted so much pain on her family, but he didn't want to lie to her and he knew she would find out eventually.

"Will _LaMontagne_?" She asked incredulously.

While Dave and JJ talked, Marie, who had been keeping JJ company, studied her granddaughter. "Abby," she said softly, "Are you alright?"

Abby was staring at the ground and she nodded mutely. Her reaction scared Marie, as she had never seen her granddaughter like this before. The girl looked utterly exhausted, like her father, and she looked as if she was just barely keeping it together.

Marie stood up, she really wanted to take her granddaughter into her arms but from what Emily had said, Abby didn't want that and Marie didn't want to upset her even further. "Here, take my chair," she said as she got up from the recliner near JJ's bed. Abby shuffled over to the chair and sat down while Marie left the room. She came back in a moment later carrying a homemade knit afghan and a pillow. She silently handed them Abby and watched as the girl debated for a moment and then finally put the pillow behind her head and snuggled into the blanket. Her parents and grandmother breathed a sigh of relief when they saw her eyes fall closed.

"I'm going to leave you three alone," she told them. She knew all three of them needed to sleep and after hearing her son's description of his near death, she knew the sandman wouldn't be visiting her for awhile and she didn't want to keep them up with her knitting. "I'll be in the waiting room if you need me."

"Thanks ma," Dave said as she left the room. He settled back into the other recliner and picked up his wife's hand.

""This is all my fault Dave," she said tearfully. "I'm the one who brought him into our lives, I'm the one who kicked him out, I'm the one-"

"Stop it right now!" Dave growled softly, so he wouldn't wake his daughter. "This is _not _your fault! It's Will's fault and his partner's fault and their employer's fault, but it is NOT _your_ fault! Got it?"

She nodded, wiping at her face, "Got it," she said, somewhat convincingly.

"Good," he said. "Now how about you try to sleep?" he suggested.

"That's not going to happen for awhile," she told him, still shook up about the attempt on her life and the lives of her daughter and husband.

Dave was about to argue, but he realized it would be a losing battle, so instead they made plans for when she was released from the hospital. They talked softly for two hours, when suddenly Abby's eyes popped open and she sat bolt upright in her chair with a gasp. Dave rushed over to her side, "What is it sweetheart?" He asked, reaching for her hand.

She pulled it away and tried to slow her breathing. Seeing her parents looking worriedly at her, she knew she had to say something before they called someone to help. "Nightmare," she told them. It took her another few minutes to calm down completely, and once she did, she lay back down in the chair, but her eyes remained open for the rest of the night.

At around six o'clock the next morning, Hotch came into the room expecting to find the family asleep. Instead he found JJ and Dave talking and Abby laying wide eyed in her chair. Sighing, he asked Dave to step into the hallway.

"Does this have to do with last night?" JJ asked and Hotch nodded, "Then you can tell all of us," she directed.

"JJ," he began, but JJ interrupted him.

"No way Hotch, this concerns all of us, so whatever it is, just tell us!" She ordered.

Hotch took a deep breath, "Will's dead."


	38. Chapter 38

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 38

**~I'm taking a couple of liberties regarding the various New York hotels and landmarks, since I've never been there and Google only tells me so much.**

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"What do you mean he's dead?" Dave shouted. "What the fuck happened? Who killed him?" He was partially grateful that the psychopath was dead; it meant that he wouldn't have to put Abby through the additional stress of testifying at his trial. It also meant they didn't have to worry about another attempt from him, although he knew that Will's employer, whoever it was, would find someone else to take his place.

Another part of Dave was disappointed the asshole was dead, as he wanted to be the one to finish the job. If that little maggot thought he could do what he did to them without repercussions, then he had been even dumber than Dave had given him credit for, and Dave had given him plenty of credit.

"He killed himself," Hotch replied.

"What?" JJ whispered. Like her husband, she too had some conflicting emotions upon hearing of her ex-boyfriend's death. On the one hand, she was glad he was finally out of their lives, but she had hoped to be the one to put the bullet in his head. Call it payback for her and her family. Will hadn't been content to just rough her and her daughter up a little, no; he had to make sure he left them with lasting memories of him until the day they died.

On the other hand, JJ couldn't help feeling horribly guilty about everything that had happened. If she had just told him to fuck off when he hit on her in Louisiana, none of this wouldn't have happened. She wouldn't have a traumatized daughter sitting next to her, a girl who was now scared to be left alone in a room. If she'd just refused his advances, David wouldn't have been shot and she wouldn't be lying in a hospital bed with sutures holding her pulmonary artery together. Finally, if she had just gone back to her hotel room that fateful night in New Orleans, Will would still be alive. Although JJ knew the man deserved to die after what he'd done to her and her family, part of her felt guilty that he'd died largely because of her actions and decisions.

She softly shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts and instead turned to look at Abby. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the cuts and bruises on her daughter's face and neck, and she felt some of the guilt she felt over Will's death slip away. The bastard had physically marked her once again, but at least it was the last time he would do it. The teen was still curled up in the recliner next to her and her expression remained largely unchanged from what it had been all night. She gave no indication that she'd even heard Hotch, and if she did, she sure didn't have a reaction to the news. JJ knew David had had her checked out in the ER the previous night and the doctor had told him that Abby's current mental state was normal for the emotional and physical trauma she had suffered but JJ was worried about her, she'd never seen her daughter as shut off as she currently was. After waking from a nightmare the previous night, Abby had lain in her chair for the rest of the night and early morning, her eyes wide eyed and horrified, as if she was reliving her time in the hotel room with Will and her father. JJ also hadn't missed the way she'd shied away from all physical contact, with both her and Dave, and with her grandmother and the team. She'd just curled into a ball on the recliner and lay there silently, and that scared the shit out of JJ.

No matter how bad things had gotten in the past, Abby had never just shut down like this. When her mother, Abby's grandmother, died, Abby had cried with JJ as they made the funeral arrangements. When they moved from Pennsylvania to Washington, Abby hadn't known anyone there, but she talked to JJ about what was going on in her mind, about all of her fears at not making friends and about how she hated it in the city, she didn't just clam up like she was now. Hell, even when David left them Abby hadn't closed up like this. Yeah, she'd put her emotions aside to get through her last week of school, but she hadn't completely pulled away from everyone like she was doing now. JJ decided that if she was still this bad the next day, she would insist on a psych consult for her. A part of her wondered if they should call psych earlier than that, but she wanted to give her daughter some time to try and work it out by herself, as she knew that's what Abby did best.

JJ also knew that her lack of sleep wasn't helping her daughter's mental or physical health, nor her husband's for that matter. She knew from the large daily calendar on the wall that it was Monday morning, which meant her husband and daughter hadn't gotten any real sleep in three days…actually, probably more than that since the team had been working non-stop to catch the unsub and she and Dave hadn't gotten more than three or four hours of sleep each night they were on the case. She also remembered that Abby had been staying with Gibbs and while she seemed to like Gibbs, it was a new place for her and she knew her daughter didn't sleep well in unfamiliar places. Both of them needed sleep badly, but she wasn't sure how to go about helping them sleep. After the events of the previous night, she was sure they both wouldn't want to leave the hospital until she was discharged.

Her husband's voice drew her from her thoughts, "What's going on in that mind of yours honey?" JJ realized she must have been lost in her thoughts for quite awhile, because when she looked up, Hotch had left the room and it was once again just the three of them.

"Just thinking," she said and then looked over at their daughter. Dave didn't need to be a mind reader to know that she was worried about her. Hell, he was too; she was scaring him with the way she was remaining in her own little world. He knew that if he'd been a better father, he could have protected her from all of this. He also felt guilty as hell, since it was largely his fault that they were in this position in the first place. If he had just let it go, if he hadn't retaliated against Will for beating his wife and child, then he would have stayed out of their lives. He knew he would regret his actions for the rest of his life.

"She'll be okay Jen, she's strong," As he spoke, Dave prayed he was right.

"She shouldn't have to be, she should be a normal kid thinking about normal teenage stuff." As JJ said this, Abby quietly got up from her chair and started walking towards the front of the room.

"Where are you going Pumpkin," Dave asked gently.

"Bathroom," she replied in a monotone voice as she stepped into her mother's bathroom and shut the door behind her.

As soon as she heard the click of the door, JJ turned to her husband, "She needs sleep Dave. Well, she needs a lot more than that, but she really needs to get some sleep. You both do."

Dave ran a hand down his face, "I know Jen, and I have a plan for that, but it will have to wait until I take her back to the ER tonight."

"Why?"

"Because Dr. Robinson wants to check her stitches tonight, and when he does that, I'm going to have him give her a shot of valium or something else that will put her to sleep. I'll have him tell her its antibiotics or something."

JJ thought about his plan for a second and then nodded, "It's sneaky, but I don't really care. So are you going to take her back to the hotel after that?"

He shook his head, "As much as I hate to separate the three of us, I'll have Garcia and Morgan take her back. I want to stay here with you."

JJ was about to tell him to stay at the hotel, but Abby came back into the room so she didn't say anything.

The rest of the morning passed uneventfully. Hotch and Emily got the team, plus Jimmy and Marie, moved into the hotel across the street from the hospital and then spent a couple of hours making use of their rooms. While they were both too tired to do anything strenuous, they did fall asleep in each other's arms and it was a comforting feeling for both of them.

While Hotch and Emily slept, Derek and Reid came back from the police station to help stand guard over the Rossi family. At around noon, Derek shored up his courage and knocked on JJ's door, knowing that what he was about to tell the older agent wouldn't be well received.

After knocking, he popped his head in the room. "Mind if I come in?" He asked.

JJ smiled, "Come on in Derek," she said warmly.

"How're you doing Jayje?" He asked as he stood near her bed. His eyes swept around the room and he saw Dave sitting by JJ's bed, Abby curled into a ball in the recliner and Marie sitting on a chair near the window.

"I've been better, but I've also been worse. How are you doing?" She asked concerned; she knew none of the team was getting much rest.

"I'm good. Do you mind if I borrow your husband for a minute?"

"Go ahead," she said, knowing that Dave could use a break. "Just bring him back in one piece."

Morgan smiled, "Will do," he promised as he and Dave stepped into the hallway.

"What's up Morgan?" He asked, anxious to get back to his family.

"I just want to update you on a couple of things," Derek told him. "First, everyone's been moved to the Plaza hotel across the street and you and Abby have a suite there. It only has one bedroom, but-"

"Don't worry about that," Dave interrupted, "I think it will be a long time before I let her out of my sight again."

"Okay, second; Hotch called his buddy that runs an exclusive and very effective private security company. They'll have guys here within the hour and they'll also be at the hotel when you and Abby are there. There are also some guys checking out the cabin at Little Creek. They haven't identified any security breaches yet, but they'll be there if anyone tries anything."

Dave nodded, one of Aaron's old buddies from the SWAT team had gone into the private security business and Hotch had contacted him to help with protecting them. Hotch trusted the guy implicitly and Dave knew that his firm did security for royalty and political figures when they were in town. Plus, if Hotch trusted him and vouched for him, it was good enough for Dave.

"Third," Derek began hesitantly, "We've gotten nowhere with Will's 'associate.' Either the guy wasn't fully aware of whom the employer was, or he's great at stonewalling us, but we're not getting anything from him." Derek paused when he saw the frustrated expression on Dave's face, and took a deep breath. "Look Dave, Will might have said something to Abby when he first got to her. I want to do a cognitive interview with her."

Dave saw red at this, "Absofuckingloutely not!"

"Rossi," Derek started, but Dave didn't let him get any further.

"No Derek, no way in hell! Look at her; she's practically a zombie as it is! You really think I'm going to let her be interrogated in this state of mind? She's said exactly two words in the last twelve hours and I'll be goddamned if I'm going to do _anything_ to make it worse for her!"

"We don't have a lot of options here Dave!" Derek said irritated. "I know you want to protect her, but if we don't find the person who contracted the original hit on the three of you, he'll just send more guys after you. Is that what you want? For JJ and Abby to be in this position again?"

"It's not happening Morgan, so just let it go," Dave told him through clenched teeth. "Just lean harder on the guy."

"Fine," Derek said softly. He had known that he didn't have much of a chance at getting Rossi to agree to the interview, so he wasn't too disappointed, but he wondered how he would get Will's partner to talk.


	39. Chapter 39

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 39

**~Thanks to all of the reviewers out there! I'm sorry I haven't responded personally, but I've been swamped the past few days, but thanks! Reviews are what keeps me motivated.**

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When Hotch and Emily returned to the hospital at around one o'clock in the afternoon, they found the rest of the team, plus Abby and Marie in the waiting room.

"What's going on?" He asked, knowing that if something had happened to JJ, he would have been notified.

"They need to run some tests on Jen and evidently they're going to take awhile, so we've been relegated to the waiting room," Dave said, not looking happy. He'd wanted to go with her, but Dr. Kent put the kibosh on that, so he was sitting in the goddamn waiting area like a bump on a frog.

"Who's with her?" Hotch asked, looking around the rom.

"Derek is waiting with some of the private security guys outside of the testing rooms," Reid said.

"Oh, okay," Hotch said. "Can I talk to you for a minute Dave?" Hotch motioned him out to the hallway. "I just want to go over some security stuff with you." Dave glanced at his daughter, who had been staring at an open book in her lap but had yet to turn any pages. "I'll be right back Pumpkin," he said and got a slight nod in return. Emily also stepped into the hallway, leaving Abby, Marie and Reid in the waiting room. Jimmy was still at the hospital, but he was helping out with various pastoral duties, as they were short staffed.

A few minutes after her father stepped out of the room, Abby got up from the sofa and headed for the opposite side of the room.

"Where are you going Little One?" Marie asked, looking up from her knitting.

"I need a drink" she said quietly, pointing at the drinking fountain across the room. As she made her way to the bubbler, she noticed that her shoe was untied. She stopped and propped her foot up on one of the chairs and began tying it. When she was done, she looked up and saw that her back was towards everyone and it looked as though she was alone in the room. A feeling of terror began to wash over her as she glanced around the waiting area. She knew that at any minute someone could come and hurt her again, that maybe this time they would succeed where Will had failed. She felt her heart begin to pound as she thought maybe this time they would be able to rape her. Maybe this time they would kill her and her—Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder and she knew it was happening; she knew she was going to be hurt, that she was going to die. Without turning around, she let out a blood curdling scream that brought everyone running into the room.

Reid, who had been the one to put his hand on her shoulder, backed away from her, holding his hands up in front of him, palm side out. As he strode up to them, Dave turned to Reid and asked, "What the hell happened?" He saw his that his daughter was shaken and she looked terror-stricken.

"I-I don't know sir," Reid responded. "She had bent down to tie her shoe, but it was taking awhile and I wanted to make sure she was okay…" He trailed off as he saw the tears welling up in Abby's eyes.

Dave also saw her tears and wasn't sure what to do, since it was the most emotion she'd showed in the past fifteen hours. Part of him wanted to take her into his arms, but the other wondered if that might do more harm than good. He decided to let the moment play out and figure out where to go from there.

"Abby," he said softly, aware that everyone in the room was watching them. Thankfully it was only the team and his mother in the waiting area. "Are you okay honey?"

She brought her eyes up to meet his and he could see they were filled with anguish. Dave knew at once that everything was finally hitting her. He knew it would happen eventually, he'd dealt with too many victims to think otherwise, and he was once again unsure of what to do.

"I th-thought he was b-back!" Abby said in a panicky voice.

"Will's dead honey, he can't hurt you."

"B-b-but it wasn't just Will!" She cried. "He was working for someone else! He told me that he had the great job of killing us, b-but the woman who hired h-him was really the one who w-wanted us dead! What if someone else comes? What if they get us?"

"I'm not going to let that happen, Abby," Dave said in the same gentle voice. "The team is here to protect us, and I've got other guys here too."

"But what if it's not enough?" Abby was shrieking by this point. "You couldn't stop him before, what if you can't stop him again?"

Her words cut him; deep down he knew there was nothing he could have done to prevent the events from the night before, since it was a sneak attack, but he still felt guilty that he hadn't been able to do anything. "It _will_ be enough," he told her forcefully.

"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT! My God, they nearly killed us last night! Will was going to rape me! He was going to KILL ME! I should be dead right now!"

As Dave watched his daughter become unglued, he decided to act. Before she could stop him, he crossed the short distance between them and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. He didn't care that it felt like his left shoulder was ripping apart, his daughter needed comforting and by God, he was going to give it to her.

She struggled against him for a minute, but when she realized she wasn't getting out of his grasp, she stopped fighting. With her still in his arms, Dave led her over to the couch and sat down, pulling her onto his lap. He looked at everyone else in the room and motioned to the door with a jerk of his head. Although no one wanted to leave the two of them while they were in their jumbled emotional states, they did as Dave indicated and left the room.

Once he and his daughter were alone, Dave said gently, "Let it out baby. God knows you've been through a lot these past couple of days and if anyone deserves to break down, it's you."

She shook her head against his chest, "I can't," she protested through her tears, "I'm afraid that once I start, I'll never stop!"

He tightened his hold on her, "I'll make sure that doesn't happen Pumpkin," he told her.

"But how-" And at that moment Abby's brain shut down and her emotions took over. She sat in her father's embrace like a little girl and cried her heart out. It was gut wrenching for Dave to hear his daughter's desperate sobbing and he shed more than a few tears himself, but he knew it was a good thing. He hoped that once she got her emotions out, she would come out of the terrifying, introverted state she had been in since the attack by Will. If she didn't, he didn't know what he would do.

After nearly half an hour of steady tears and wails, Abby finally began to settle down. Although Dave could hear the occasional sniffle coming from her, it seemed as though the worst was over. Fifteen minutes after that, he felt her breathing begin to even out and when he looked down, he saw she was asleep.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her closed eyes and then felt his own begin to grow heavy. He knew his shoulder couldn't take much more, so he gently slid her off of his lap and onto the sofa next to him. Once she was on the couch, he moved his right arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close, letting her use his chest as a pillow, and he too fell asleep.

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The team re-entered the waiting room an hour later to find Dave and Abby asleep on the sofa. They'd brought lunch back with them, and they quietly set the food out on a nearby table and began to eat, no one saying a word. Even though they were quiet, Dave woke up anyway and he saw his friends and mother watching him, all of them wearing concerned looks on their faces.

He looked over at his daughter, saw she was still asleep and gently extracted his arm out from under her shoulders. As he moved to lay her down on the sofa, she woke up and just stared at him. He stared back at her for a moment, and he was happy to see that the horrified look in her eyes that had been there since the night before was gone.

"How're you doing Pumpkin?" He asked gently, as he smoothed her bangs out of her eyes. He was pleased when she didn't pull away from his touch.

Abby thought about his question for a minute, "Better."

Dave was relieved when he heard her normal voice, instead of the scary, monotone one she'd been using for the past sixteen hours. He smiled, "That's good to hear. Do you want to go back to sleep?"

She shook her head, "No, I'm okay," she told him as she stretched her arms. "I kinda feel like I'm in a zoo or something though," she told him with a pointed look at their friends and family who were intently watching them.

"I feel like that every day with them," he muttered, ecstatic to see her acting more like herself. He knew she wasn't totally over what had happened with Will, but it was nice to have her out of that near catatonic state she had been in.

"It looks like our friends brought back a feast, do you think you could manage some food?"

"Maybe some soup, if they have it," Abby said as she rubbed her face with her hands. She knew that between the cuts and bruises on her face, the inevitable tear stains from her crying jag and a general lack of makeup, she must look awful and she was suddenly a bit self conscious as she got up and walked over to the table with her father.

Like her son, Marie was also happy to see her granddaughter acting a little more like herself. As the girl approached the table, she reached out and gave her a gentle hug, and Abby did not shy away from it. "Welcome back, Little One," she murmured in her ear.

"Thanks Nonna," Abby said with a sheepish smile. She sat down in the chair her father had pulled out and looked down at the empty space in front of her, aware of the stares she was attracting from the other occupants at the table.

"What can I get you to eat Abby?" Hotch asked.

"Um, just some soup, if you have it," she told him.

"We do," he said with a smile, as he moved to pour some for her. He too was glad to see her acting a bit more normal.

Emily wordlessly handed her a can of Pepsi, while Marie set a bowl of soup and half of a chicken sandwich down in front of her. Abby was about to open her mouth to protest the sandwich, when Marie spoke, "I know it's more than you asked for, but you need more than just soup."

"But-" Abby started, but was cut again cut off by her grandmother.

"Eat," she ordered gently. "Both of you," she said as she set the identical meal down in front of her son.

Both Abby and Dave knew better than to argue with her, so they picked up their spoons and began eating. While they ate, the team made polite chit-chat with them and Abby slowly felt her world returning to normal…well, as normal as it could get, seeing as she was eating lunch in a hospital waiting room.

Once they were nearly done with their food, Derek turned to Abby. "So I heard you tell your dad that Will said a woman hired him?"

Abby was surprised by the question since it seemed to come out of nowhere, "Yeah, he said it right before dad came into the room."

"Did he say anything else? A name maybe? Or where she lived?"

"Morgan," Dave growled warningly.

Abby looked from her father to Derek, "No, we weren't exactly having a coffee klatch."

Derek smiled, "What else did he say before your dad came in?"

"I-I don't know, it all happened so fast," she told him. "He said that if I cooperated, I wouldn't get hurt, but all of mom's and Uncle Aaron's self defense training told me that was bullshit, so I tried fighting back…obviously it didn't work out too well," she said sarcastically, pointing at her battered face.

"That's enough Derek," Dave warned.

The younger agent ignored his words, "Did he say anything while you were fighting?"

Abby thought about it for a second, "Yeah, right after I landed a punch to his face, he told me he could understand why she wanted me dead along with my parents."

Dave could see his daughter's hands begin to shake again, "Can I see you out in the hall for a minute, Derek?" He asked tightly.

Morgan looked up at him, "Sure thing Dave."

Both men got up and walked to the door. Once in the hallway, Dave turned on the younger man. "Are you out of your fucking mind? She _just_ got out of her zombie state and you decide to question her? I _specifically_ told you I didn't want her interrogated! Do you have any reason why I shouldn't kick your ass right now?" Dave was beyond livid and Derek knew the older agent could make good on his threat at that moment, injured shoulder or not.

"We needed answers Dave," he said softly, "and she gave them to us. I did it to protect her…hell, I did it to protect _all_ of you."

Some of the wind went out of Dave's sails when he heard that, but he was still pissed. "It stops now. You try that shit again with her and _you'll_ be in the ER having my shoe removed from your ass. Capisce?"

"I got it Dave, and I'm sorry."

He nodded and the two men returned to the room and Dave was happy to see that his daughter hadn't returned to her introverted state. Instead, she was arguing with her grandmother over the chips she had snuck onto her plate.


	40. Chapter 40

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 40

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During lunch, the team made idle chit chat with Dave and Abby, hoping to draw Abby out of her shell a little more. No one wanted to push it with her, but they were all glad to see her acting more like herself than she had been all day. While she was quiet during the meal, she seemed to be following along with the various conversations and she occasionally added to them, which was much more than she had done for most of the day.

Marie was happy when both her son and her granddaughter finished all of the food that was in front of them, including the potato chips she had put on their plates. While her granddaughter refused a second helping of the soup, Dave hadn't and Marie was happy knowing he was getting the nutrients he needed in order to keep his strength up. She knew that most of the team was worried about Jennifer's recovery and Abby's recent introverted state, and she was too, but she was also worried about her son and both his physical and emotional well being. Over the years she had watched his interaction with the rest of the team and she knew they saw him as a throwback to an earlier era, where agents were manly men who didn't need help and she realized her son also probably saw himself like that as well, but she knew that in his current physical and emotional state he needed someone watching out for him, even if he didn't realize it.

As soon as they were finished eating, Dr. Kent entered the waiting area and greeted the Rossi's and the BAU team. He took an offered soda and sat down at the table.

"We completed our tests, and everything looks fine with Jennifer," he told them. "There is no sign of infection, her breathing function is as normal as we could hope for so soon after the type of injury she sustained, and there doesn't seem to be any sign of the repair to the pulmonary artery weakening."

"Was that a concern?" Dave asked, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.

Dr. Kent nodded, "It was a substantial concern of ours. If the repair was going to weaken or if the artery was going to re-rupture, it would have happened by now, but the results of the MRI show no leaks at the site and her blood work shows no evidence of internal bleeding."

"If it was a major concern, why weren't we told about it?" Abby asked, frustrated.

Dr. Kent looked at her, "Because she specifically asked me _not _to tell any of you about it."

"WHAT?" Dave roared. "Goddammit! I need to know exactly what's happening with my wife, whether she wants me to or not, got it?"

The doctor shook his head, "I'm sorry agent Rossi, I know it's frustrating for you, but my first concern is for my patient and if she asks me not to share something with you, then I'm not going to; you need to discuss this with her."

"You're damn right I'm going to discuss this with her!" Dave promised, already planning that 'discussion' in his head.

"Anyway," Dr. Kent said, trying to get back on track, "All of her tests look good and she's making wonderful progress. If she continues to do as well as she currently is, I'd say she could go home in a week."

Dave nodded, "Can we go back to her room?"

"The nurses are getting her settled right now; you can go back in about twenty minutes," he said as he glanced at his buzzing pager. He asked if there were any other questions and when there weren't any, he took off for the stairwell.

After the doctor left, everyone in the room kind of split up. Dave and Hotch stepped back into the hallway to resume their security discussion that had been interrupted by Abby's scream, Reid and Garcia were using Garcia's laptop to find possible suspects based on Abby's information, Marie and Emily made a trip to the rest room down the hall, and Derek was sitting on the couch, not knowing exactly what to do.

Abby smiled and sat down next to him, so she was facing him. "I know my father probably warned you away from even talking to me when he took you into the hallway earlier. My guess is he threatened to put his foot up your ass, am I right?"

Derek turned to face her and he returned her smile, "How'd you know?"

"I know my dad," she told him. "I also know he's afraid that I'll lose my shit again and go back to the way I was this morning, but that's not going to happen. I need to talk to you about last night, so you and I are going to sit here and pretend we're having a nice conversation instead of us talking about Will, okay?"

His smile faded a bit, he knew he needed to talk to her, but Rossi's threat hung in his mind, "Okay." He could feel Dave's eyes on them through the window and he controlled his breathing and sweating.

"I couldn't get last night out of my mind during lunch, I kept replaying what Will said to me."

"I'm sorry about that Abby, I didn't mean to be an insensitive prick, but-" Abby interrupted him.

"I know, and it's not like it was earlier today; my brain wasn't consumed by what happened…I could still function when thinking about it," she told him and Derek felt immense relief. "Anyway, I must have replayed the conversation fifty times and I remembered something."

"What did you remember?" Derek asked, leaning forward slightly.

"After he hit me a couple of times and got me in his grip, Will said he wondered how she ever could have loved him. At first I thought he was talking about mom, but the more I think about it, the more I wonder if he was talking about his employer."

Morgan nodded, "I wonder too. Thanks Abby, you did great. I think you're right, it'll clear up outside and become sunny later today," Derek said, abruptly changing the topic as Dave came up behind Abby.

"Ready to go see mom, Pumpkin?" He asked her, holding out his hand. She took it, got up from the sofa and followed her father down the hallway towards her mother's room.

"Garcia," Derek said, as he walked over to where she and Reid were sitting. "Check out all of Dave's former wives and girlfriends and see if there's anything weird in their recent pasts. Go back about six months."

Garcia gave a mock salute, "Aye aye captain!"

Out in the hallway Hotch had just hung up with his buddy Steve, who was heading up the Rossi security team, when his phone rang again. He smiled as he recognized his son's ringtone, which was _Jumpin' Jack Flash_.

"Hi Jack," he said warmly as he glanced at his watch. "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"I have a free period," he responded, happy to hear his dad's voice. "How are things going there? How's Dave? How's Aunt JJ doing? Is Abby okay?"

Hotch spent the next ten minutes filling his son in on recent events and then answering his questions. Finally Jack asked if he could come to New York the next day.

"What about school?" Hotch asked, knowing his son needed to see for himself that everyone was okay, but worried about having another person to take care of.

"I don't have much going on this week and I really want to come up. Please dad!" Jack said ardently.

Hearing the emotion in his son's voice, Hotch finally relented. "Okay, but don't come tomorrow, come on Wednesday."

"Why?" Jack asked.

"Because I'm hoping that Abby will be asleep for most of the day tomorrow," Hotch told him, thinking back to Dave's plan. Dave hadn't told him about it, but JJ had let him in on it during a rare time when both Dave and Abby had been out of her room.

"Okay," Jack agreed, "I'll take the train up on Wednesday."

"Do you need me to pick you up from Penn Station?" Hotch asked.

Jack shook his head before he remembered his dad couldn't see him. "No, I'll take a cab or something, don't worry about me."

"I'm your dad, I'll always worry about you, it's in the job description," Hotch told him. They talked for another few minutes before ending the call.

While Hotch was talking to his son, Dave and Abby arrived at JJ's room. Dave had been ready to burst in and read her the riot act for not telling them about the concerns over her pulmonary artery, but when he walked in, he could tell by the look on her face that JJ was in pain. "Are you alright, sweetheart?" He asked, reaching for the nurse call button.

She blocked him from hitting the button, "I'm fine Dave," she told him. "All of the movement from the tests today made me sore, but I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," her husband told her, examining her closely. "If you're hurting, why don't you have them give you some pain medicine?"

"They already gave me some and I don't want to ask for more. The pain medicine makes me sleepy and loopy and I'm tired of feeling that way, butI promise to ask for something so I can sleep tonight, okay?"

"Okay," Dave grumbled, knowing that was the best he was going to get.

JJ looked past him to their daughter, who was standing off to the side. At first glance, JJ could tell she'd been crying, but at least her eyes didn't have that dead look and her expression seemed….well, expressive. Before they left her face had been vacant, but now she looked somewhat like herself again.

"How're you doing Abby?" She asked softly, almost afraid of her daughter's reaction. To her relief, Abby gave her a small smile. "I'm doing better than before," she told her. JJ nodded and then held out her arms. She was surprised when Abby came over for a hug since the last time she'd seen her, Abby had shied away from all physical contact.

Once they broke apart, Dave began to let JJ know how he felt about her withholding medical information from him.

"Dr. Kent told us all of your test results look good," Dave told her, as he took a seat next to her bed. Abby sat in the recliner on the other side of her mom's bed. She felt her mom take the hand that was resting on her bed, and Abby didn't stop her.

"He told me the same thing," JJ said with a smile.

"How could you keep something like that from me? From _us_?" He asked with a pointed look at their daughter.

"I didn't want to worry you, you both have been under enough stress as it is, I didn't want to add to it," she told them.

"What else have you had them keep from us?" Dave asked gruffly. He couldn't get too pissed at her, since she was lying in a hospital bed, but he wanted to be prepared in case anything went wrong.

JJ shook her head, "Nothing, I swear."

"All right," Dave said, "But from now on you don't keep anything from us."

"That has to go both ways Dave," JJ told him, "As soon as you get information about the case, you have to give it to me. I don't like being out of the loop any more than you do."

Dave thought about this for a minute, "Fine, no more secrets for any of us, agreed?" Both JJ and Abby nodded. "And the next time things get to be too much for you to handle, talk to one of us, don't just shut down, okay?" He directed this at his daughter, and she sheepishly nodded.

Throughout the day, Marie, Jimmy and various members of the team parked themselves in JJ's room and it made the time go by fast. Before Dave knew it, his watch read ten o'clock and he turned to his daughter.

"Time to go," he told her.

"Where are we going?" She asked, confused. They were watching a movie on the Hallmark channel, and while it wasn't exactly riveting, it was the best they could do with the limited channels available.

"Back to the ER," Dave reminded her. "Dr. Robinson wants to check on your stitches."

"He does?" Abby's forehead scrunched in thought as she tried to remember the doctor saying that the previous night.

Dave nodded, "He does."

"But I don't remember that."

"No offense honey, but you weren't exactly with it last night. I'm not surprised you don't remember it."

Abby nodded, "You're right, let's go."

They said goodnight to JJ, who was about to get some pain medicine though her IV and then both of them got up from their seats and made their way down the corridor, with Hotch and Marie following them.

Once the four of them arrived at the ER, Dave once again gave his name to the triage nurse and they were assigned a room. As they walked back into the patient part of the ER, Marie looked around in horror. "This place is a madhouse, Davie! Are you sure it's safe?"

"Its fine ma," he reassured her. Once in the room, the three adults sat in the available chairs while Abby sat on the uncomfortable exam table. As it turned out, they didn't have to wait too long to see the doctor.

"Agent Rossi, agent Hotchner," Dr. Robinson greeted them as he entered the room and then he glanced at Abby, who looked better than she had the previous night. The swelling around her eye and lip had gone down leaving just the bruises, and her mental state looked like it had improved as well. "How are you feeling, Abby?" he asked as he approached the exam table.

"Better than last night," she told him.

"That's good to hear," he said as he removed the bandages from the stitches on her neck. "The redness has gone down around your wounds, but I'm seeing signs of infection," Dr. Robinson lied, catching Dave's eye. The agent had called him earlier in the evening and asked him to give her something to help her sleep, under the guise of antibiotics. Normally Dr. Robinson wouldn't outright lie to his patients, but he agreed with the older man that his daughter desperately needed to rest. "I'm going to give you a shot of penicillin so we can stop the infection before it takes hold."

"A shot?" Abby asked nervously, she absolutely _hated_ needles.

The doctor nodded and smiled, "It won't be too bad, I promise."

"Will she have any scarring from her injuries?" Marie asked and then introduced herself to the doctor.

"I doubt it, but if she does, they can easily be repaired by a plastic surgeon," he told her and then turned to Abby. "Abby, how about you hop down from there so your father can take a seat? I want to check his shoulder."

Abby nodded and got down from the exam table and waited for her father to take her place. She was surprised when he shook his head and stayed seated in his chair. "My shoulder's fine, doc."

Dr. Robinson sighed, "With a wound like yours Agent Rossi, the potential for infection is fairly high. I want to make sure the oral antibiotics I gave you are doing the job."

Dave opened his mouth to argue further, when his mother cut him off. "Get on the table _now_, Davie," she ordered, and that was all it took to get him to move from his chair.

He gingerly removed his shirt and Dr. Robinson removed the bandages and examined his shoulder. "Well I see you haven't been following my directions about not using your shoulder too much," he said as he saw many of the stitches had been stretched.

Dave shrugged, "My shoulder feels fine."

Probing the injury, the doctor asked, "Have you been taking your antibiotics every eight hours?" Dave nodded. "Well I'm seeing evidence of infection here. I'm going to order a shot of penicillin for you as well, okay?" Dave nodded again and the doctor left the room to prepare the injections.

He returned about ten minutes later and Abby hopped back up onto the table and sat next to her dad. When she felt the doctor swipe her arm with rubbing alcohol, she tensed up and gripped her father's hand tightly, letting go once the needle was removed from her arm. The doctor then moved on to Dave and gave him his shot before putting the needles in the sharps container.

Dave pulled his shirt back on and buttoned it up while Abby fixed her sleeve. "Hotch, will you call Morgan and have him and Garcia escort Abby to the hotel?"

"The hotel?" Abby asked confused, "I thought we were going back up to mom's room."

"I am, you're going to the hotel to sleep."

The teen shook her head, "No, I'm _not_!" She argued, "I'm going back upstairs."

Hotch snapped his phone shut, "They'll be here in a couple of minutes," he told Dave, not meeting his eyes.

"Dad, come on! I don't want to go to the hotel, I want to stay here with you and mom, don't make me go back!"

Hearing his daughter get worked up over leaving, Dave decided to tell her the truth about what had just occurred. "You have to go back to the hotel Pumpkin, because in about twenty minutes, you're going to pass out."

"What are you talking about?" Sure, she was tired, but it wasn't _that_ bad.

Dave sighed, "Honey, that shot wasn't penicillin, it was a sedative. I want you to get some rest." He braced himself for the anger he knew was coming, and he wasn't disappointed.

"WHAT?" She bellowed, "You drugged me? Are you _crazy_? So much for trusting you!"

"You _can_ trust me, Abby. I'm just trying to do what's best for you," he told her tiredly.

"By TRICKING me?" She shouted. "I can't believe this!"

"Well believe it," Dave told her, his own exhaustion starting to get the best of him, "You haven't slept in days and after all that you've been through, you need some solid sleep to help you heal. Was it sneaky? Yes, but I'm your father, I know what's best for you and I'll always act in your best interest."

"I'm glad to hear you say that, Davie," his mother said from her seat near the door.

"Why is that, ma?" He asked.

"Because I did the same thing to you." Seeing his confused look, Marie elaborated. "Your shot was also a sedative, son." She closed her eyes and waited for the fireworks to start. She didn't have to wait long.


	41. Chapter 41

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 41

* * *

"WHAT?" Dave roared, unable to comprehend that he'd been tricked in the very same way he'd tricked his daughter. He turned to the doctor, "Are you fucking kidding me? You sedated me?"

"What your language David!" His mother said sharply. "It wasn't that young man's idea to sedate you, it was your wife's…and mine."

"I can't believe you would do this to me!" He said, outraged.

"But dad, Nonna was just looking out for your best interest," Abby said with a smirk, throwing his own words back at him.

He glared at her, "Stay out of this."

While her smirk didn't disappear, Abby wisely kept her mouth shut as her father continued his tirade. "I'm a federal agent for Christ's sake, what you did was a felony!" His anger was directed back towards Dr. Robinson, who gave a tired sigh.

"Fine, then arrest me Agent Rossi…oh wait, you can't, because in about fifteen minutes you're going to be struggling to stay upright. Besides, I had your boss's approval for this plan."

Dave swung his glare towards his boss and best friend, "Are you shitting me? You were in on this?"

Hotch nodded, "You and Abby both desperately need some sleep, and I'm not talking about an hour or two in those torture contraptions they call chairs in JJ's room. You need some solid shuteye without nightmares and this is the only way to give you that. Was it my idea? No, but when JJ approached Marie and I with the plan, it didn't take much to convince us."

"This is horseshit!" Dave spat and turned back towards the doctor. "Give me something to counteract the sedative. Now!"

The doctor shook his weary head, "Not going to happen Agent Rossi. Now I suggest you and your daughter get to your hotel quickly, because the drug I gave you is going to knock you on your ass very shortly." With that, the doctor left the room.

"I don't believe this! I can't believe the level of treachery, the _dishonesty_, the-" his rant was interrupted by his mother, who was losing all patience with her son.

"Get over it Davie," she ordered. "It happened, and now you have to hightail it to your hotel so you can be in a nice bed before the shot knocks you out." Seeing him opening his mouth, Marie kept going. "Was it dishonest? Yes, but I don't really care. You need to rest in order to heal, and as your mother I will do anything I have to in order to ensure that happens. Now quit acting like a child, your seventeen year old daughter threw less of a fit than you, for God's sake."

Abby, who had been watching her father's antics with a smile on her face, didn't tell her grandmother that if she hadn't also sedated her father, she would probably _still_ be throwing a world-class temper tantrum. As it was, all she wanted to do was go back to the hotel and get into bed since she really didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

Dave, on the other hand, still hadn't resigned himself to his fate. "Who the hell is going to stay with Jen tonight?"

"I will be here, as will Aaron, Spencer and Emily, not to mention some of those nice boys from your private security company. Everything will be taken care of Davie, you just go and get some sleep."

"Fine," he said tightly. "I guess I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

"You really don't," Marie told him, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Both Morgan and Garcia arrived shortly after and the four of them made their way across the street and into the hotel lobby. They rose to the fourteenth floor and saw numerous guards standing around the hallway and in front of a door. It turned out the door they were standing in front of was the one to Dave and Abby's suite. The guards let them in, and both Dave and Abby shuffled into the main living room, with Morgan and Garcia behind them. The drugs were starting to take effect, and both Rossi's could barely remain upright.

"So there's only one bedroom, but there are two beds," Penelope told them as she led them to the lavish bedroom. They both nodded tiredly, and sat down on the beds. "Do either of you need help changing?" She asked and they both shook their heads. "Okay then, Derek and I will be out in the main room while you sleep, along with some of the guys from the security firm, so neither of you has to worry about a thing. Sleep well." With that, Penelope closed the door and left them alone.

"I'm going to go change in the bathroom Pumpkin, why don't you do the same out here?"

"Okay dad," she agreed and then watched as he went into the bathroom. Abby was grateful for the calming drugs that were speeding through her system as it helped keep most of the panic at bay over being alone in the room. As she changed into her pajamas, she briefly wondered if things would ever be the same again and then found she didn't care as she slid between the crisp, cool sheets of one of the beds. She was asleep within a minute of her head hitting the pillow, her father following suit less than five minutes later.

xxxxxxxxxx

Both Dave and Abby slept for over fourteen hours, waking once or twice to use the bathroom. It was a restful sleep, as the sedative chased many of the nightmares they were sure to experience in the future.

The heavy drapes in the bedroom also helped to create the perfect environment for sleeping. When Dave finally awoke from his heavy slumber, he glanced at the digital clock on the bedside table and was shocked to see that it was nearly one in the afternoon. Remaining in bed for a few minutes, he slowly stretched all of his joints and muscles and was pleasantly surprised when he discovered that the intensity of pain in his injured shoulder had lessened while he slept.

He finally got out of bed and made his way to the bathroom, where he took care of business. Throwing on a robe that he'd found in the bathroom linen closet, he stepped back into the bedroom and regarded his daughter for a moment. She was still dead asleep and she looked peaceful lying there. He noticed that she had kicked the covers off during the night and he reached down to pull them back over her. As he did that, he noticed her shirt had ridden up a little and he saw the healing holes from when she had pierced her belly button. Had that really happened only a few weeks earlier? He pondered this as he tucked her back in to her bed. It seemed as though worrying about piercings, and making out with Jack and the deadline for his book had happened another lifetime ago. He wondered if they would ever be the happy family they once were. As he stood there for another minute and watched his daughter sleep, he vowed they would be; no matter what he had to do to make it happen, they would get their happily ever after.

Finally tearing his eyes away from his daughter's sleeping form, he crept into the living area, where he saw Hotch and Emily sitting on the sofa. He smiled when he saw them because they were sitting close together, their hands intertwined and they looked happy and cozy together.

"Morning," he said, his voice hoarse from sleeping for so long.

"Hey, look who finally decided to grace us with his presence?" Hotch said with a smile.

"Very funny, asshole! If I recall, I didn't have much of a choice on becoming Sleeping Beauty now did I?"

"No, I guess you didn't," Hotch admitted as both he and Emily stood up and made their way to the table in the middle of the room. "Are you still pissed?"

Dave sighed, the sleep had helped clear his mind and it had put him in a better mood. He finally realized that his mother and his friend were just trying to help him. "No, but I will be if you don't find me something to eat!"

Emily grinned as she sat at the table and Dave sat down next to her while Hotch rooted around the kitchenette to see what he could find for his friend to eat. He surprised the older agent by coming out with soup, chips and sandwich fixings. "Dig in," he told him, and Dave did.

While his friend made his sandwich, Hotch spoke to him. "There have been a couple of developments that have taken place while you've been asleep, Dave."

"Like what?" He asked, slathering a roll with mayo.

"First, Steve's security team has finalized the security plans at the cabin for when JJ is released and the three of you return home. They have a perimeter established around your cabin, and they have people guarding the house both inside and out. Without going in to all of the details, let me just tell you they have planned for every possible scenario."

"Great," Dave said with a smile as he placed an obscene amount of ham onto his sandwich.

"The only thing they're having problems with is setting up security for Abby once she returns to school. Steve tells me that this is the biggest risk, that she'll be out in the open for too long. Even if they could control everyone who entered and exited the school building, which they can't, there are too many variables with substitute teachers, temporary janitorial staff, various staff-"

"Tell Steve not to worry about it, Abby's not going back to school until the mastermind behind our assassination attempts has been caught." Dave was firm on this, but he knew it was not going to go over well with his daughter…it wouldn't go over well _at all. _He shrugged as he took a bite of his enormous sandwich; he would deal with it when he had to and he would make her see that he was doing it for her own good, for all of their own goods. His first priority was keeping the family safe and he didn't care how he had to do it.

Hotch, as if reading the older profiler's mind, gave him a small grin. "She's going to _love_ that," he told him.

Dave shrugged his right shoulder, "Tough, she'll get over it. I'll do whatever I have to in order to keep her and JJ safe from whatever that maniac has planned for us."

Sharing a glance with Emily, Hotch cleared his throat. "That actually brings me to my second item Dave. We know who is behind all of this."

Dave's sandwich dropped to his plate with a soft thud and he looked at his friend expectantly. "Who is it?"

Hotch swallowed hard and then took a deep breath, "It's Suzette."

Dave wore a blank look for a moment before it changed to one of dawning. "Suzette…wait, _my _Suzette?" Hotch nodded and Dave shook his head. "No…no way, you're wrong on this one Aaron. Yes, Suzette can be dramatic at times, but she wouldn't do something like this!" He couldn't even entertain the idea that Suzette was behind this, because then it would mean that his family had been hurt by someone from his past, by someone who had a personal score to settle…it would mean that this was his fault and it couldn't be his fault, because he loved his family more than life itself and he would _never_ put them in harm's way…he felt his brain rambling and his breathing quicken and for a minute, everything went gray.

"Dave? DAVE! Are you okay man?" Hotch shouted as he saw his friend blank out.

Hotch's shouting brought Dave back from the brink of unconsciousness. His breathing began to slow and his mind slowly cleared.

"How can you be sure?" He whispered.

"Based on all of the information Abby gave Derek, he had Garcia run down your ex-girlfriends and wives. Suzette's account has numerous banking transactions that are questionable, and in one instance Garcia was able to track a large sum of money to an offshore bank account in Will's name."

"Oh God," Dave whispered.

Feeling like a prick, Hotch told him the rest. "Suzette is also in the wind right now, we haven't been able to track her movements for the past week. Garcia said it takes careful planning to disappear like that." He paused and let that sink in before speaking again. "Finally, once we confronted Will's associate with our suspicions, he broke down and confessed everything."

"Jesus," Dave breathed. "This is all my fault."

Hotch shook his head, "No it's _not_ Dave! It's her fault and it's Will's fault, but it's NOT yours!"

"How can you say that Hotch? I was the one who brought her into my life, and she followed me into theirs!"

"Who followed you where?" A young voice asked from the doorway. Abby stood there in her cookie monster t-shirt and blue pajama pants, yawning and stretching.

Dave plastered a smile onto his face, "No one honey, Aaron and I were just talking." He smiled as she approached the table, since she looked like she was about thirteen years old with her messy bed head and her Sesame Street pajamas. "How're you doing Pumpkin?"

"A lot better," she told him and watched as a smug grin over took his face. "You were right, I needed sleep, but don't gloat about it or else I'll tell Nonna how much better _you're _feeling."

Not wanting to hear 'I told you so' from his mother, Dave agreed not to harp on the fact that he did indeed know best sometimes. Instead, he watched as Abby sat on his knee, picked up his sandwich and took a big bite.

"God dad, you must have half a pig on here!" She said through a mouthful of bread and ham. "All you're missing is some bacon and a pork chop!" She said as she took another bite.

"Hungry?" Dave said with a grin and Abby nodded her head. The fourteen hour nap had both lifted the fog from her brain and revived her appetite. As she sat there eating the pound of ham, she realized that for the first time in days, she was ravenous.

"Are there any chips?" She asked, looking around the table. Hotch passed the bag to her and watched as Dave tried to wrangle his sandwich away from her. It was a losing battle.

"Get your own!" Abby practically snarled at him as he wrapped his arm around hers and tried to get her to drop the food.

"That _was_ mine," he whined, also terribly hungry. He saw her shrug, "Too bad," she said, taking another bite.

Sighing, Dave reached around her, grabbed the platter of meat and began re-making his lunch. Hotch, who had been watching their exchange in amusement, stood up, got a chair from the kitchenette, brought it into the living room and set it down at the table for Abby.

Dave kissed the top of her head as she slid from his lap to the chair and then took another big bite of his sandwich.

xxxxxxxxxx

Two hours later, Dave and Abby returned to the hospital, more awake and alert than they had been in days. Dave continued to grumble at JJ and Marie over their sneaky tactics, but the grumbling was good-natured. Both JJ and Marie were happy to see their children so well rested and in such good moods; it gave the room a much more relaxed vibe.

They spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in JJ's room with various team members filtering in and out throughout the day. The only person missing was Jimmy, who'd left abruptly that afternoon after learning about an emergency with one of his parishioners.

At around seven o'clock, the nurse came into JJ's room to get her ready for bed, and Dave and Abby went into the waiting room. Someone on the team had ordered pizza, and Marie was over the moon when she saw her son and her granddaughter dig into it. The conversation around the table was light, and Dave and Abby even joined in on some of the joking banter.

After dinner, Marie, Derek, Garcia and Reid all left to go back to the hotel. Since the nurse told them JJ was asleep, neither Dave nor Abby wanted to risk waking her, so they sat in the waiting room with Hotch and Emily. Even after sleeping for fourteen hours, Abby still found herself tired at nine o'clock, so she stretched out on one of the sofas and fell into a light sleep. She was awakened an hour later by a gentle voice.

"Abby?" She heard in her ear and slowly cracked open her eyes. When she saw who was next to her, she smiled.

"Hi Jack."


	42. Chapter 42

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 42

_Calling all CM readers and authors! Join us for our first Profiler's Choice CM Awards on Fanfiction. net! Help us choose the best of the best of the CM stories on ff. net, and let your voice be heard. Anyone with a ff. net account is eligible to nominate. Please check out the nominating ballot and rules at Chit Chat on Author's Forum at http:/ forum. fanfiction. net/topic/74868/30888142/1/. All rules and information are on the forum._

_

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_

"Hey Abs," Jack said tenderly. He raised his hand to brush away a few stray strands of hair that threatened her eyes, and he was surprised when a momentary look of fear came into her eyes and she flinched. Frowning, he dropped his hand.

"Sorry Jack," Abby said sheepishly, as she realized what she had done. She had no idea where her reaction had come from, she had just been sure he was going to hit her.

"It's okay," he told her, trying to keep the confusion he was feeling out of his voice.

Abby sat up, rubbed her hands over her face and then realized how awful she must look. "I look terrible," she groaned.

"You look beautiful," Jack argued, lying through his teeth. In all honesty she _did _look awful, but there was no way in hell he was going to tell her that, he liked living too much. Plus, after all she'd been through, he hadn't expected her to look like a prom queen.

Seeing through his lie, Abby gave a tiny smile, "Thanks, but I know the truth," she said as she looked around the room. "Where's dad?"

"Back in your mother's room," Derek told her. She nodded and then turned towards Emily, "Fancy a trip to the restroom?" She asked, knowing she couldn't go alone. Emily nodded and the two of them grabbed their purses and left the room.

Hotch, who had been in one of the small conference rooms talking to both the Bureau and his friend Steve about protection for the Rossi family, stepped into the waiting room. "Jack!" He said in surprise when he saw his son, "I didn't think you were coming up until tomorrow."

The teen shrugged, "I caught a train after school and I figured I would just crash here for the night," he told his dad, right before he was engulfed in a hug. He was surprised by the show of affection from his father. Yeah, he knew his dad loved him, but he wasn't really a touchy-feely kind of person and physical displays of affection were rare for him.

Hotch was surprised by his reaction as well, but it had been awhile since he'd seen his son and he missed him. Also, seeing Jack made the nightmare that his best friend was going through seem much more real to him. Before he saw Jack, he'd been able to distance himself from what had been going on. Sure it was difficult after Abby was attacked, since the girl was practically a daughter to him, but even then it hadn't hit him on much of a personal level, but seeing his son in the flesh brought everything home to him.

He couldn't imagine having to constantly worry that some maniac would take a pot shot at him. He didn't have to send people to the bathroom with his son to ensure his safety. He didn't have a crushing guilt over bringing a crazy person into his son's life and he didn't have to worry about losing him due to a mistake made years ago. Hotch realized that if he was in Dave's position, he would be going insane, and he wondered how his friend was keeping it together.

"It's good to see you," Hotch told his son as he released him. "I've missed you."

Jack could count on one hand the number of times his dad had told him that he missed him. Just with that admission alone, he knew the case had gotten to him. "I miss you too dad, the house is really empty without you."

"It had better _remain_ empty while I'm gone." Hotch had recently started letting Jack stay home alone while he was away on cases and he was always worried that his son would have a party or something of that nature while he was away.

"It will, it will," Jack promised as they both sat down. "God dad, Abby looks like hell," he said softly.

"I know," Hotch agreed and began filling him in on the events that had transpired that week.

Ten minutes later, Emily and Abby re-entered the room, Abby looking much better than when she'd left. "Are you hungry?" She asked Jack and he nodded.

"Why don't you two head down to the cafeteria and grab something to eat?" Hotch suggested and both of the kids nodded. "Morgan, Garcia, why don't you go with them?"

Both Jack and Abby groaned slightly at hearing that; they had been hoping to have some time by themselves, and they couldn't really talk with the two adults sitting with them.

The four of them made their way to the cafeteria, where Jack grabbed dinner and the others grabbed coffee and dessert. Once they approached the tables in the mostly empty canteen, Derek pointed to one. "You two sit there, Pen and I will be back here," he pointed to a table halfway across the room. He wanted to give the kids privacy, but he was also responsible for protecting Abby, so that's as far as he was willing to go.

"Okay, thanks Derek," Abby said as she and Jack walked to their table. They sat on opposite sides so they could look at each other, and Jack dug into the disgusting cafeteria dinner with gusto while Abby sipped her coffee. Once his plate was clean, which took him all of about five minutes, he sat back and looked at Abby, his eyes filled with concern.

Looking at him, Abby bit out a terse, "Don't," and looked back down at her coffee mug.

"Don't what?" Jack asked, genuinely confused. To his knowledge, he hadn't _done_ anything yet, wanting to let her make the first move.

"Don't look at me like that," she clarified. "I need one person here who doesn't look at me as though I'm going to break."

"From what my dad told me, you _did_ break for awhile," Jack said quietly.

Not happy that her Uncle was talking to people about her, Abby made a mental not to talk to him as soon as they could get a moment alone.

"Well…I guess I kinda did for a little while, but I'm better now…my mind just kinda got stuck replaying Will's attack on us."

Jack gripped her left hand, which was resting on the table, "What happened that night?" He felt her hand stiffen in his.

"Your dad didn't tell you?" Jack shook his head and Abby gave him an abbreviated version of that night. When she was finished, Jack looked disturbed.

"He didn't…?" Jack trailed off, not wanting to finish the question, but with the way she was flinching and tensing up any time he touched her, he needed to know the answer.

"What? NO…no…I mean, I think if he'd had the time he would have…in fact I'm sure of it, but your dad got there before he could," Abby told him.

Jack let out a sigh of relief, "Thank God." It's not that his feelings toward her would have changed if Will _had_ raped her, he was just thankful for Abby that it hadn't gotten that far. "What can I do to help you?"

Abby gave him a loving smile, "Right now I just really need a friend…not a boyfriend, but my best friend." She saw him look at her quizzically, so she elaborated. "With all of the worrying over mom and dad, the crap in my brain from Will and the fear of knowing we're all still in danger, well, I guess I just can't deal with the pressure of also being someone's girlfriend. You know, trying to look my best even though I've been practically living at the hospital, trying to put on a happy face, being all affectionate, that kind of thing…I just can't do it right now. I just really need for my boyfriend Jack to take a vacation and for my best friend Jack to return. Do you think that could happen?"

Jack smiled, "Of course it can; I'll be anything you need me to be, Abs," he told her and she let out a sigh of relief.

"It's not going to be forever, just until all of this is behind us," Abby explained.

"I started out as your best friend and I'll always be that guy, even if our romantic relationship never works out, okay?"

She nodded gratefully, "Okay. So tell me about all of the gossip from school," she said, changing the subject. Jack obliged and they talked about mundane things for another fifteen minutes.

xxxxxxxxxx

Watching them from their table across the cafeteria, Derek wrapped his arm around Garcia and she sighed. "Is it possible that we were ever that young?" She asked. "That we were ever that much in love?"

"Hey," Derek growled good-naturedly, "I think we proved last night that we _are _that much in love and more so. If I recall, you were afraid we would wake Dave and Abby from their valium induced slumbers."

"Shhhhh!" Garcia hissed as she slammed her elbow into his ribs, "They might hear you!"

"Fuck woman! That hurt, I think you broke a rib!" He said rubbing his left side. "Besides, those kids would have to have bat ears to hear anything we're saying."

"Still, I'd like to keep this to ourselves for a little while," she told him.

"Why?" He asked curiously. They had finally gotten together a few nights ago in her hotel room. The shootings had clarified things in both of their minds and, like Hotch and Emily, they realized their time on this earth may be limited and they didn't want to waste any more of it with their playful flirting, especially since they both deeply loved each other.

While they were genuinely in love with each other, their new relationship had almost come to a screeching halt two nights ago. Derek's caveman side came out when he realized the danger the Rossi's were in and, as the only unarmed agent in the group, Derek tried insisting that Penelope go back to Quantico and work from there, as he didn't want her getting caught in any of the crossfire from the case...both abstract and literal crossfire. The result of that demand was a lot of indignant high pitched shrieking, to the point where Derek at one point wondered if she'd actually punctured his eardrums. It had been worth it though to spend the rest of the night making up with her.

Garcia sighed, "It just doesn't seem right that we're all using this near-tragedy to come together…it just feels dirty using JJ's bad fortune for our gain."

"But that's not what we're doing, Baby Girl," he told her, tightening his arm around her shoulders. "As fucked up as this whole thing has been for everyone, it's given us clarity. Don't you think JJ would be happy that some good has come from all of this?"

Pen nodded, "Probably, but I still want to keep it on the down low for a little while, okay?"

"Um, okay…sure," Derek said nervously.

She may not have been a profiler, but Penelope was able to pick up on his anxiety. "Who did you tell?" She hissed.

"What? What do you mean?" Derek asked, trying to stall for time.

Garcia's eyes narrowed, "I mean, who. Did. You. Tell?"

He sighed, knowing he was dead, "Okay, here's the thing Mama. Yesterday, when we told Dave that it's his ex-wife who's after them, he realized that Abby and I must have talked further even after his stringent warning to me."

"Mmm-hmmm," Garcia murmured, motioning for him to keep going.

"Well, while you and Abby were getting ready to go back to the hospital, Rossi pulled me aside and asked me if there was any reason he shouldn't brain me right then and there. Let me tell you honey, he was _pissed_!"

"Well what the hell did you expect Derek?" Pen asked incredulously, "You kept pushing his emotionally traumatized teenage daughter! Hell, _I _was ready to kill you!"

"Yeah, but that last time she came to me and talked to me, I didn't interrogate her." He got a raised eyebrow in response and continued, "Anyway, I could tell he was serious about killing me, so I blurted out the first answer that popped into my head."

"And that was?" Pen asked.

Derek hung his head, "I told him that since I was now your plaything, if he killed me it would seriously piss you off and did he really want to do that? He then asked me point blank if you and I were together now and I said yes."

"Jesus Christ!" She shrieked in a whisper, not wanting to disturb Jack and Abby. "You told ROSSI? He's the biggest gossip out there, after me of course. Dare I ask what his reaction was?"

Derek smiled, "He just stared at me for a minute and then said 'it's about fucking time.' And then he went on to tell me that I was lucky that I'm now living under your protection."

"So you didn't think to ask me before you went public with our relationship?" She asked indignantly.

"I had my back to the wall, what else was I supposed to do?" He pleaded.

Garcia shook her head, "Whatever," she said as she gathered up their trash. "We should probably head back upstairs."

"Okay, but are we still okay Penelope? You're not going to dump me over this, are you?"

She shook her red head, "No, but I really hope you like cold showers, Derek."


	43. Chapter 43

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 43

**~Updates may be sporadic this week and the chapters may be shorter than normal, as I have a TON of stuff due on Friday. Plus, I'm flying home to be in a wedding this weekend so that's eating up a lot of my time. **

**~Thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story. Reviews are what keep me motivated**!

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The four of them returned to the waiting area and tried to sleep. Normally Abby would have slept in her mother's room, but when she got back from the cafeteria she saw that both of her parents were asleep and she didn't want to wake them. Making her way back to the waiting room, she met up with Pen.

"So how much did you hear in the cafeteria?" She asked, hesitatingly.

Abby grinned mischievously, "I didn't _hear_ anything, but I would have to be blind as a bat not to have seen you and Derek cuddling with each other."

"Pfft," Penelope said, waving her words away, "We always do that, we're friends and-"

"_And _my dad told me what Derek told him," Abby said.

Garcia stopped dead in her tracks, "He did?"

Abby nodded, "Are you really surprised by that? You know my dad gossips like an old lady!"

"I know, but I was hoping he'd keep it to himself."

"If it's any consolation I think he has, other than telling my mom and me. He knows this is going to put additional stress on Uncle Aaron, with the whole 'no fraternization' rule and he doesn't want to add to it right now. Plus, Uncle Aaron is going to have to bust _himself_ for breaking that rule." Abby wondered if she'd accidently let the cat out of the bag about Emily and her Uncle Aaron, but thankfully it seemed like Pen already knew since she just nodded thoughtfully.

"What do you think about it?" She asked the younger girl, wanting a friend's opinion.

Abby looked surprised, "I'm with my father, I think it's about damned time you guys hooked up, lord knows you were meant to be a couple."

"But you always liked Kevin."

"No, I _tolerated_ Kevin and I was nice to him for your sake, but I never really _liked_ him. I always thought he could have treated you better and I was glad when you two broke up."

"Really?" Garcia asked, surprised.

Abby nodded, "Yes, really. I, and pretty much everyone else who has ever met the two of you, know that you and Derek are meant for each other."

By this time they had reached the waiting room and Garcia kissed her cheek, "Thanks hon, what you said means a lot to me."

"Glad I could help," she said as they walked through the door, and she really meant it. She was glad she was able to make someone else happy during this giant clusterfuck.

xxxxxxxxxx

Along with Abby; Jack, Derek, Reid and Penelope crashed overnight in the waiting room, while Marie, Hotch and Emily returned to the hotel. The night started out well, with everyone sleeping soundly in the uncomfortable chairs, but the restfulness was broken by a piercing scream at around two in the morning.

Waking with a jerk as he heard the scream, Derek sat bolt upright and reached for his sidearm. As he did so, he noticed Reid doing the same thing and they looked to the source of the screaming.

Abby was sitting in one of the uncomfortable chairs, her face contorted in horror and tears pouring out of her still closed eyes. As the guys pulled their guns, and as Jack looked on in shock, Garcia leapt from her chair and threw her arms around the girl.

"Wake up Abby!" She said forcefully as she felt the girl tremble violently in her arms. Getting no reaction, she repeated the order. Still getting no reaction, she was about to have Reid get Dave when Abby finally opened her eyes.

"What…what's happening?" She asked, confused at finding herself in Garcia's arms, with the guys and some of the private security guards watching her cautiously.

"You tell us, sweetie," Garcia said, still holding the shaking girl. "We were all sawing logs when you started screaming. I'm assuming you had a nightmare?" It all came back to Abby in a rush and she nodded. "Was it about Will?" Pen prodded and Abby shook her head.

"No, I dreamed about seeing my parents were shot, except this time Gibbs told me they had died at the scene." A tear slipped down her cheek just recalling the nightmare.

Garcia held her in her arms until she felt Abby's shaking subside. Once that happened, she released the teen and suggested a trip to the restroom, nodding at one of the private security guys. The guy got the message and went ahead of them to clear the restroom.

After Garcia and Abby took care of business, they stood at the sinks washing their hands and fixing their hair. "Do you think I'll ever be able to sleep through the night again?" Abby asked tiredly.

Garcia nodded, "I think it will take time, but your nightmares will subside. Thankfully for you, you have two parents who are willing to move the earth in order to help you."

Abby sighed, "I know, but I don't want them worrying about me while mom is getting better. Dad's going to have enough to worry about without wondering if I'm a total basket case."

"Don't worry about your dad, he can handle it, you just worry about sorting out your own feelings, okay?"

"Okay. Do we really have to go back to the waiting room? I feel like such an idiot."

Garcia frowned, "You have nothing to feel embarrassed about, nightmares happen and anyone on our team will tell you that we all experience them from time to time."

She pushed the door open and both of them stepped out into the hallway. They were escorted back to the waiting room by a few of the private security guards. Once back in the room, Abby sheepishly walked back to her seat, aware of the eyes that were on her.

"I'm fine guys, really."

None of them looked convinced, but they all settled back in for the night. Abby, who was not about to risk another nightmare, pulled out a book and a mini-reading light and began to study.

xxxxxxxxxx

The next day was one of the better days at the hospital. Jack had brought some TV shows on DVD, a couple of movies and some board games and they all had fun playing them, even JJ, when she wasn't doped up on pain medicine.

It was also nice for Abby to have someone her own age around. She and Jack were able to get caught up on a week's worth of conversations and Jack had also brought the assignments and notes she had missed. She was worried about falling behind so close to the end of the year and she wanted to keep up with her schoolwork as best as she could.

After an early dinner of takeout pizza, it was time for Jack to catch the train back to DC. Abby went down to the lobby with her uncle to say goodbye to him. Hotch gave him a hug and then stood off to the side so the two teenagers could say their goodbyes.

"Call me if you need to talk or anything," Jack said, not sure of what to do. Now that they were back to being 'best friends,' he didn't know if he should hug or kiss her. He decided to let her make the first move.

"Thanks Jack, I really appreciated your coming here, it was nice to have someone my own age nearby."

"Anytime Abs," he told her tenderly.

There was an awkward silence for a minute before Abby took a step forward and engulfed her best friend in a hug. "Thanks," she whispered in his ear. When they pulled apart, he saw she had tears in her eyes.

He felt like his heart was breaking as he walked through the door, but he knew she'd be okay.

Abby, watching her friend walk towards the taxi stand, wiped the standing tears out of her eyes and then turned back towards her uncle. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" She asked.

Hotch, surprised at the sudden chilliness in her voice, said, "Sure. How about we grab a cup of coffee in the cafeteria?"

Abby nodded, "Fine."

They walked the short distance to the canteen, got their drinks and sat down at a table. They drank in silence for a few minutes, until Hotch finally broke it. "What did you want to talk to me about, Abby?" He asked, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

Abby looked up from her coffee, "I don't appreciate you telling people about what happened to me, and I sure as hell don't like you warning them about my emotional state!" She said, getting louder with each word.

Hotch looked surprised, "What are you talking about? Who did I-"

"Jack," she interrupted, "You told Jack all about what happened. God Uncle Aaron! He was practically afraid to talk to me!"

"Abby, I told him because I thought he deserved to know. I didn't want him saying anything that would have upset you."

"That wasn't your call to make!" Abby shot back.

"The hell it wasn't!" He exclaimed. "Jack is my son and I love him to death, but he can be pretty blunt about things and I didn't want him saying something stupid in his typical 'Jack' fashion."

"Dammit, _don't _treat me like I'm a victim!" She yelled, drawing stares from the few people who were eating late dinners.

"Lower your voice," Hotch said sternly. The stress of the last couple of days, combined with his own lack of sleep had given his temper a short-fuse.

"I am _not _a victim," she said forcefully, but softer this time. "My mom is a victim and my dad was a victim of this, but _I'm_ not, so quit treating me like one!"

"You _are_ a victim! You may not have been shot, but you were attacked, and until they find the mastermind behind all of this, you are _still_ in danger." Knowing Dave hadn't told them about Suzette yet, he kept her out of their conversation. "It scared the hell out of my when you closed yourself off like you did after Will's attack and I will do anything I have to in order to prevent you from shutting down like that ever again. If you don't like it, well…tough! I was practically your father for six years and if you think I can shut off my worry, concern and protectiveness towards you that easily, then you're just plain crazy!"

Abby sat quietly at the table, shocked by her uncle's rant. It surprised her that he still felt as protective towards her, and her most of her anger melted at his admission. "I'm sorry I got so mad at you, I just hate it when people talk about me."

"Abby, the people here talk about you out of concern, that's what happens in families," he said, softer this time.

She nodded, "I know, but you promise you won't tell anyone else?"

"There's no one else who needs to know," he told her.

"Okay then," she said and they finished their coffee in silence.

xxxxxxxxxx

While Abby was having her 'discussion' with her uncle, Dave, JJ and Marie were having their own conversation in JJ's room.

"I think you should consider returning to DC, ma," Dave told her. "It can't be good for you to be sleeping in these chairs and staying up all night. You should go back to your townhouse."

"Dave's right, Marie," JJ said quickly, as she saw the older woman open her mouth to argue with her son. "I'm doing much better now and after all of the travelling you've done over the past month, I think you'd be more comfortable in your own home."

Marie thought about it for a minute and then nodded, "I guess you're right, but I want to take Abby home with me." Seeing her son open _his _mouth to argue, she pressed on. "This is no place for her to be. She can't sleep, she needs protection when she walks to the bathroom and she's been eating takeout all week. She needs to be in a place where she can relax, and that isn't here."

"I don't want to separate the family, ma," Dave told her.

"Davie, I'm sure you can arrange for security at my house just as easily as you can arrange for it here," Marie said, looking at JJ for her opinion.

JJ's head was scrunched in thought. While she also didn't want to separate the family, she also knew her daughter needed a place that was more normal for her. She finally nodded, "I agree with Marie, Abby needs a more normal place. But," she looked at Marie when she said this. "I'm not going to force her to go back to DC with you. You can talk to her and argue with her, but it's her decision. Agreed?"

Dave, who realized both women made good points, nodded as did Marie. She was confident her granddaughter would submit to her on this. She couldn't imagine her Abby arguing with her.

"That's fine Davie, should we see if she's back yet?" Dave nodded and both of them left JJ's room and made their way to the waiting area.

"Seriously ma, I can guarantee she's not going to want to leave with you, and I can't blame her," Dave said, gearing up for his daughter's reaction.

"I'm her grandmother Davie, she'll listen to me," Marie said confidently. They both stepped into the room and saw that the rest of the team and Abby were there.

"Ah, Abby, just the person I was looking for," Marie said, sitting across a small table from her.

"Hi Nonna," she said, looking up from her laptop, which Jack had brought during his visit. "What's up?"

"My son has convinced me to return to DC," she said, "And I want you to come with me."

Abby looked surprised, "No thanks Nonna; I'm going to stay here until mom is released."

Marie frowned, "It wasn't a request, Little One. You need to be in a place where you can sleep and relax. You need to be back in your home."

Abby, who was still a bit worked up from the conversation with her uncle, stiffened. "I'm not leaving, Nonna." She said firmly. "I respect you and love you, but you aren't going to change my mind on this."

Marie was surprised that her normally agreeable granddaughter was arguing with her. "Abigail Marie Rossi, you _are_ coming home with me, and that's final. We're leaving on the ten o'clock train tomorrow morning."

"I'm _not_!" She said just as firmly, not caring that her grandmother middle named her. There was no way she was leaving her parents.

Both Marie and Abby glared at each other from either end of the table. Dave, knowing both women, realized that they were pausing so they could gear up for round two of the argument. He took a step back as he thought about the intensity of any argument that would ensue between the two strong-willed women. JJ often said that Abby got her stubbornness from him and if that was true, then god help them all, because he had gotten _his_ stubbornness from the woman who was about to square off with his daughter.

As he took his step back, Dave saw the rest of his team do the same thing. None of them wanted to get caught in the crossfire, but none of them also wanted to miss what was sure to be an argument of epic proportions.

As he saw them both open their mouths at the same time, Dave closed his eyes and waited.


	44. Chapter 44

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 44

**~Apparently I was wrong about not updating soon...the writing muse decided to kick into overdrive. Can't promise updates on Tuesday or Wednesday.**

**~Thanks again to everyone who has been reading and reviewing this story!**

* * *

As it turned out, Dave didn't have to wait very long. As soon as he shut his eyes, he heard both women take deep breaths in order to gear up for their argument. He had to hand it to them, they tried to keep it civil at first.

Hearing his mother's voice, Dave re-opened his eyes and watched the scene unfold in front of him. "Listen to me, Little One," she said, frustration evident in her voice. "You _are _coming home with me. I don't care if you don't want to, a hospital waiting room is no place for a child."

He mentally groaned as he saw his daughter's eyes narrow, she absolutely _hated_ it when anyone referred to her as a child, and that included his own frequent usage of the term 'young lady.'

"I am _not_ a child," Abby argued in a high pitched voice while stamping her foot. Most of the people in the room had to hide a smile when she said that, because she sounded very much like the child her grandmother accused her of being. "I am almost eighteen years old and I should be able to decide if I stay or leave!"

"But you're not in the right frame of mind to make that decision!" Marie said loudly, "You've been here for _five_ days and during those five days you've seen and experienced terrible things, your mind is on overload!"

"Who says you're in any better position to make these decisions?" Abby yelled, "You traveled for two days to get here and you've been sleeping in the same places I have! You're jet-lagged and just as tired as I am, so _I_ don't think you're in a position to be making decisions for _me_." She whirled around and glared at her father, "What do _you _think about this? Do you want me to leave?"

"It's your decision," he said quietly, wanting to stay out of their argument for as long as possible. "I think you need normalcy in your life, but I'm also not real eager to split up the family."

Abby looked at her grandmother triumphantly, "See? Even dad doesn't want me to leave."

"_No,_ what he said was he didn't want to split up the family. I'm sure under more normal circumstances, he would want you in a more comfortable setting," Marie snipped. Once again they both looked at Dave but he exercised his right to remain silent.

"But these _aren't _normal circumstances, so why should I go home with you?" Abby asked stubbornly.

The rest of the team was standing back in awe of the argument taking place in front of them. Sure, they hadn't known Marie Rossi for very long, but she had a presence that said 'don't mess with me,' and none of the team had ever been brave enough to try.

"Abigail," Marie said softly, trying to change her tactic, "I am trying to do what's best for you. Please, just agree to pack up your things and come home with me."

Abby once again shook her head, "I'm also doing what's best for me, and what's best for me is to stay here with mom and dad. Do you really think I could relax in DC knowing they were here? That anytime the phone rang it could be dad, or the hospital telling me that mom…" Abby couldn't finish her thought and she took a deep breath. "All it would do is stress me out. So as much as I love you, Nonna, I'm going to have to respectfully decline your invitation."

"Dammit, Little One," Marie shouted as she slammed her hand down on the table, her own exhaustion getting the best of her. Abby's eyes widened and filled with tears at her reaction, she had never seen her grandmother this angry and she never thought that _she _would be the one to make her so mad. "This has gone far enough! You _are _coming home with me, whether you want to or not!"

Dave sighed as he heard his mother's rant and saw his daughter's reaction and knew he had to step in. "That's enough," he said, getting up from his seat. "Ma, its obvious Abby wants to stay here and like I told you in JJ's room, I'm not going to force her to leave; it's her decision and it sounds like she's made it."

Abby nodded firmly at her father's words and Marie knew she was defeated, but she wasn't happy about it.

"Fine," she said icily to both her son and granddaughter. "I believe I will go back to the hotel and pack. I will come by before I leave tomorrow."

"Nonna…" Abby said, but her grandmother held her hand up.

"I believe we've said all that we need to, Little One," she said and then stalked out of the room.

"Well that's just great," Abby said to no one in particular, "Now Nonna hates me."

"She doesn't hate you, Pumpkin, she's just pissed that she didn't get her own way, which I've only seen happen once or twice by the way. She'll get over it," Dave reassured her.

Abby nodded miserably, "I have to go to the bathroom," she said, knowing she needed an escort. Paul, one of the security guys, and Emily stood up and walked with her to the restroom. When she and Emily exited a few minutes later, Paul directed her to her mother's room. Once there, she was surprised to see her mother in a standing position next to the bed.

"Mom, should you be out of bed?" She asked as she watched a nurse move her mother's numerous IV's onto a pole that had wheels. Before the medical professional or her mother could answer, her father jumped in with his two cents.

"_No_, she shouldn't be up," he grumbled. "What ever happened to taking it easy?"

"Your wife was shot five days ago, sir," the nurse said. "If she doesn't start moving around, she risks developing pneumonia and we don't want that happening, do we?" She asked, somewhat patronizingly.

"No, of course not," Dave replied tightly. The nurse had a point, but did she have to talk to him like he was a simpleton?

Smiling, JJ took a shaky step and the three of them headed for the door while the nurse went back to the nurse's station. As she slowly walked down the corridor, JJ finally noticed all of the private security guards that lined the hallway.

"God Dave, I feel like I'm the president or something!"

"Yeah, I feel like I should be looking over my shoulder for the paparazzi," Abby said with a smile.

"Very funny," Dave said, a hint of a smile touching his own lips. "I'm not taking any chances," he told them.

After JJ made three very slow trips up and down the corridor, she went back to her room and got settled back into her bed. She was embarrassed by how exhausted she was, and she fell asleep after only few minutes of being back.

Both Dave and Abby crashed in the uncomfortable recliners and also fell asleep within minutes of settling in for the night. After a few hours of sleep, JJ was awakened by twinge of pain in her chest and she tried to bite back the moan that threatened to escape. Unfortunately, she was unsuccessful and she woke her protective husband.

Dave, upon hearing his wife's moan of pain, automatically reached for the nurse's call button, but found it blocked by her hand. "Let me get the nurse in here, Jen. There's no need for you to suffer."

"It was just a twinge Dave, I don't want to become dependent on the drugs," she told him, thinking about Spencer's addiction.

"But if you're in pain-" JJ interrupted her husband.

"If the pain gets to be too bad, I'll ask for some medicine, but right now it's manageable," she told him with a sigh.

Dave recognized that sigh, it meant that something was on her mind. "What is it honey?"

"What?" JJ asked.

"What're you worried about?"

"Other than the fact that a maniac is trying to kill us?" She asked. Dave still hadn't told his girls that it was his ex-wife who was after them. It wasn't that he was purposely keeping it from them, there just hadn't been a good time for the conversation and he wasn't particularly looking forward to it. He knew they had every right to blame him for their current predicament, as he knew he was responsible for it. He just hoped they'd still want him around when they learned it was Suzette.

"Other than that," he said, dryly.

She sighed again, "I just realized today how much of a burden I'm going to be on you once I'm finally released from this place. I can barely walk the length of the hallway, how much help am I going to be at home?"

"For Christ's sake, Jen," Dave said, irritated, "You're not going to be a burden to me, or to Abby. What the hell is wrong with your brain?"

She shook her head, "Nothing is wrong with it, I _am_ going to be a burden! Not only can I not help with anything, I'm going to _need_ a ton of help! You didn't sign up for this."

He ran a hand through his hair in irritation, "This is what families do. I might not have signed up for this, but I'm not going to run away now that it's happened. Besides, did you and Abby sign up for my fierce protectiveness? My moodiness? My protectiveness? No, but you haven't left me because of them."

"Yes, but-" Dave wouldn't let her get a word in edgewise.

"In sickness and in health, Jen, in sickness and in health. We _both_ made those vows! Would you be feeling the same way if I was the injured one? Would you be thinking about how much of a pain in the ass it was going to be to take care of me?"

"Of course not, but-"

"No," Dave said, "No buts. I'm going to help you through this because you're my wife and I love you, but I don't_ ever_ want to hear you refer to yourself as a burden again, understood?"

"Understood," she said with a smile as she fell back to sleep.

The next time she awoke, she looked at the clock and saw that it was around four in the morning. She turned to her left and saw her daughter reading, via a mini book light clipped to the top of what looked like a textbook.

She watched her for a moment and realized that her daughter looked weary, more grown up and less innocent than she did two weeks ago. There was a new type of tiredness in her eyes, a hunch in her shoulders and seriousness in her face that she hadn't seen before. Her heart broke when she thought of all the terrible things her daughter had experienced in such a short amount of time and, like her husband, she vowed to help her daughter regain the sense of security she'd lost.

Abby could feel a set of eyes on her and she immediately looked towards her father but saw that he was asleep. She looked toward her mother and was surprised to find her watching her.

"Mom," she said softly, so as not to wake her dad, "Do you need something? Some water or a pill?"

JJ shook her head, "Nope, I just woke up and couldn't fall back asleep. What are you doing up?"

"Oh, I um, woke up and couldn't fall back asleep, so I decided to get some studying done," Abby fibbed.

JJ narrowed her eyes, she might not be a profiler, but she could always tell when her daughter wasn't being honest with her. "Did you have another nightmare?" She asked.

Abby reluctantly nodded, "Yeah, but I didn't want to worry you. It's no big deal, I just don't want to go back to sleep."

JJ didn't push her to talk about it, since it was four a.m., but if her she knew that if her daughter's nightmares didn't go away soon after they returned to the cabin, she would strongly encourage her to talk to a professional about them.

They were both silent for a minute and then JJ sighed.

"What?" Abby asked, on alert.

"Nothing, I'm just homesick," JJ told her. "I really, really, REALLY want to go home."

Abby nodded, "Me too."

"Why don't you go home with your grandmother?" JJ asked. She knew her husband didn't want to split them up, but if Abby wanted to go home, she should go.

"No, I want to go home with you and dad. If I went home without you guys, I would jump every time the phone rang."

JJ nodded, "I understand." They were silent for another minute. "You know things will be different when we get back to the cabin, right?"

"I know," Abby said, "You'll be recovering and the team will still be looking for the bad guy."

"Exactly, and there will be restrictions on our freedom until the guy is caught. Plus, your dad will probably become even _more_ protective of us, if that's possible."

"Dad? Protective? Get out of town!" Abby said, laughing softly and she was happy when her mother joined in.

"Having a laugh at my expense?" A deep voice inquired.

"David! How long have you been awake?" JJ asked.

"Long enough to hear my protective ways being mocked," he told them. "It's four-fifteen, shouldn't we all be asleep?" He asked, reaching over to turn off Abby's book light. He saw them both nod in the darkened room, and soon after, he heard even breathing from both of them.

xxxxxxxxxx

The next day, Marie arrived at the hospital bright and early to say goodbye. Hotch would be escorting the elder Rossi to Penn station and Abby had wanted to go along, but her father, her uncle and the private security team all put the kibosh on that idea, so Abby was going to have to settle for saying goodbye at the hospital. She realized it was probably for the better, since she wasn't sure if her grandmother was speaking to her. She was worried that she may have screwed up their relationship for good.

As Marie bent down to kiss her daughter-in-law's cheek, she marveled at how much better she looked. "Goodbye Jennifer," she said. "You focus on getting well while you're here and you let my son worry about the rest. Once you're home, we can worry about putting some of that meat back on your bones."

JJ smiled, "Thanks Marie…for everything. I know having you here has helped the three of us through some of the rough times."

"Anytime Jennifer, and I'll be there for all of you whenever you need me once you're back at the cabin," Marie told her as she moved towards her son.

She engulfed him in a hug and he whispered, "Thanks ma, I don't think I could have kept it together without you."

"You're welcome, son." She said gently, as they pulled apart. "Where's the Little One?" She asked.

"She's in the bathroom brushing her hair and teeth. Do me a favor, ma? Talk to her, she thinks you're really mad at her. She told Garcia that she doesn't think that things will ever be the same between the two of you."

Marie was shocked, "It was just an argument, Davie," she said incredulously. "She's really that worried about it?"

Dave nodded, "Combined with everything else that has gone on this week? Yeah, she's pretty upset about it. Besides, I don't think the two of you have ever argued before."

His mother opened her mouth to refute his suggestion when she realized he was right, they _hadn't _argued before. "I'll talk to her right now," she promised as she left the room.

Abby was washing her face and talking to Emily when the restroom door opened. As she dried her face, she looked in the mirror and was surprised to see her grandmother standing behind her.

"Nonna!" She said in surprise, spinning around to face her.

"Emily, would you give us some privacy please?" It sounded like a question, but Emily knew it was more of a command and she quickly left the room.

Once they were alone, Marie didn't beat around the bush. "No matter what we said to each other yesterday, Little One, I still love you more than you could possibly imagine. You are my only grandchild and you will always have a special place in my heart."

Tears pricked Abby's eyes as her grandmother spoke. "You…you aren't mad at me? I'm sorry I yelled at you, I just didn't want to leave and you weren't listening and I-" Marie interrupted her.

"Of course I'm not angry with you. I was frustrated with you yesterday…and maybe a little angry, but it was momentary. I'm an old, demanding woman and I'm used to getting my own way. I was just irritated that you weren't giving in to me, but I understand why you want to stay."

"So, we're okay?" Abby asked hesitantly.

Marie nodded, "We've always been okay," she said as she put her arms around her.

Abby felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders as she returned her grandmother's hug. They stayed like that for a minute, until there was a knock on the door.

"Mrs. Rossi?" Hotch's voice rang out. "We're going to have to leave now, if you want to make your train."

Marie released her granddaughter, "You call me if you need anything, understand?"

Abby nodded, "Got it."

They stepped out of the restroom and walked towards the elevators. "I'm not kidding Abby; if you wake up at three o'clock in the morning and need someone to talk to, you call me."

Abby smiled and nodded as the elevator doors dinged open. Hotch and her grandmother stepped into the metal box and Abby moved to join them, when a strong arm blocked her way. "It's best if you remain here, Miss Rossi," one of the security guys said. "It's more secure up here."

"Okay," Abby said as the elevator doors closed. She started back towards her mother's room and wondered just how strict the rules would be once they returned to the cabin.


	45. Chapter 45

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 45

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* * *

"It is _so_ good to be home!" JJ exclaimed as her husband carried her over the threshold of cabin door. It was ten days after she had been shot and the doctors had finally released her that morning, over Dave's protests. After a long car ride home, they finally made it back to the cabin in time to see the rich and vibrant late afternoon sun through the forest near their home.

Abby followed behind them and turned to close the door, when she saw it had already been pulled shut by one of the many private security guys that were on the property. She knew they would be around, but she didn't know there would be so many of them and she didn't think they would actually be at the house itself, but sure enough, there were two stationed on the front porch of the cabin and she was sure there were more on the backyard deck.

"Anything is better than that hospital, in that godforsaken city," Abby agreed.

JJ was about to respond with an agreement of her own when Dave headed for the stairs, his wife still in his arms. "Put me down on the couch David, I'll rest down here."

"Nuh-uh," he said. "The doctor said bed rest, not 'couch rest,' and you know you'll sleep much better in our bed."

She didn't argue with him, as she was too tired to argue with anyone. It was embarrassing, but the four hour car ride from New York to Washington had tired her out and she was looking forward to going to bed early that night.

Seeing their daughter struggling with both of their go bags, as well as her own, Dave took them from her and said, "Why don't you go unpack and get cleaned up, Pumpkin? I'll get your mom settled and then we can have an early dinner up here."

She gave him a tired smile, "Sounds good dad," she said and then crossed the hallway to her room. He heard the door close and shortly after, he heard water running in her bathroom. Dave then spent the next fifteen minutes bustling around his recuperating wife. He fluffed her pillows to within an inch of their life, got her a glass of water and some magazines he had picked up for her and put the TV remote within her reach. She finally got tired of his hovering and suggested that he get cleaned up before dinner. Dave looked torn at that suggestion; he _really_ wanted to shower, but he didn't want to leave his wife alone. He finally decided to take a quick shower, but he took the baby monitor into the bathroom with him. The other half of it was in the bedroom with JJ.

Dave felt like a new man as he stepped back into the bedroom thirty minutes later; it was amazing how much a shower and a shave could make someone feel better. Even though it was only five o'clock in the evening, he was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt which were his normal sleeping attire. He looked at the bed and saw that his wife was asleep, so he crept out of the room, leaving the door half open, and knocked on his daughter's door. He frowned when he didn't get an answer and knocked again. Knowing she'd jumped in the shower soon after she'd entered her room nearly an hour before, Dave knew she wasn't still in there and he wondered why she wasn't answering. He knocked a third time as he opened the door.

He walked in and found her standing next to her bed. She had a terrified look on her face and she was shaking hard enough that he could see it from across the room. He crossed over to her in three large strides and put his hand on her shoulder.

Abby, who had been unpacking her duffel bag, jumped nearly a foot in the air and bit back a scream as she spun around. "Dad! I didn't hear you come in," she said in what she hoped was a normal voice.

Once she'd left her parents and entered her own room earlier, she was happy to find that her room still felt the same. Not that she'd expected it to feel different, just with all that had happened over the past week she wasn't sure how it would feel being back home. She'd taken a leisurely shower, which had immediately calmed her, and then put on her pajamas to relax. It was while she was unpacking her bag that her mind had gotten the best of her.

She had been thinking about their time in New York when she realized she hadn't been left alone in over a week…since Will's attack to be exact. As she that thought had hit her, she began looking around the room and she saw all of the places where someone could hide and wait for her to turn her back before grabbing her and…thankfully her father's hand on her shoulder had pulled her from those thoughts.

"You okay, Pumpkin?" He asked as he pulled her into his arms. He felt her nod against his chest.

"I was just freaking myself out over nothing," she said, trying to stop shaking.

Dave didn't buy her excuse, but he didn't call her on it. "Want to go downstairs and help me with dinner? It smells like my mother left some of her minestrone in the slow cooker for us."

She nodded and Dave reluctantly released her so they could both go down to the kitchen. Once there, they ladled out the soup and put the bowls on a tray, along with the silverware and their drinks. Abby carried the tray up the stairs since Dave's injured shoulder was beginning to ache from all of his exertion that afternoon. When they got back into the room, Abby spread the food out on the small table Dave had set up and she handed her mother the tray, which had her soup on it and for the next half hour, they made small talk as they all enjoyed the soup.

As they ate, JJ looked at her husband and daughter and smiled; she was very happy to be back home with them. Home felt safe, it felt right, it wasn't cold and impersonal like the hospital was. And the three of them were different here; they were more relaxed, more loving and happier. She smiled as she finished her soup.

Once she was finished with her own bowl of soup, Abby stood up to leave. "Where are you going, Abby? I thought we could all stay in here and talk for a few minutes."

Abby nodded, "That's fine dad, I just want to do some laundry so I have something to wear to school tomorrow. I'll be right back." Before he could stop her, she was out of the room.

"You didn't tell her?" JJ asked, surprised that her daughter thought she was going to school the next day.

Dave shook his head, "There was never a good time to tell her."

JJ snorted, "Please, we were cramped together in that tiny hospital room for over a week; you couldn't have told her during that time?"

"Told me what?" Abby asked as she came back into the room.

"Sit down, Pumpkin. We need to go over the new house rules," Dave told her.

Abby sighed, she had known this was coming but she was dreading the restrictions that were going to be put on her freedom…on all of their freedom. She climbed onto the bed and sat next to her mother and waited for her dad to begin speaking from his chair at the table.

"Okay, so the upshot is that we can't leave the safety of the house. No going for walks on the property, no sitting on the front porch or backyard deck, and no going to the family gym. I know this seems harsh, but a lot of hit men have sniper training and someone could be hiding in the woods just waiting to take a potshot at one of us, so we have to be careful, okay?"

Both Abby and JJ were wide eyed and they nodded, so Dave took a deep breath to gear up for what he knew was going to be an epic reaction. "And no going to work or school."

"WHAT?" Abby yelled, "I _have_ to go to school! I've already missed a week!"

"I know Pumpkin, but it's too dangerous."

"But dad," she said, not as loud but close to tears, "It's the last quarter of my senior year, there are things I have to do, friends I want to spend time with before we all separate and class activities I want to help plan. Not to mention I have to keep my grades up if I want a shot at being valedictorian." By the end, the tears in her eyes had spilled over, and Dave felt like a monster.

"I'm sorry, honey, but the guys say it's too dangerous. They can't control entry into the school and even if one of them stayed with you throughout the day, you'd still be in too much danger."

Abby sniffled and swiped at the tears that were rolling down her face. "How long?"

"What?" Dave asked.

"How long until you catch this woman…this mastermind? How long am I going to be stuck here twiddling my thumbs?"

"I don't know, Abby. I can tell you that the entire team is working around the clock to catch her. Strauss has pulled them from the regular rotation, so this is the only case they're working on right now. If I had to guess, I'd say a couple of weeks," Dave told her, praying he was right. He'd seen cases like this drag on for years, but he wasn't about to tell her that.

"A few weeks! My spring break is coming up in two weeks! I know we can't go to Italy, but I thought we would at least be able to take day trips, or at least take walks around the property, but you're telling me I might be stuck inside for my entire break?" Abby couldn't believe this was happening.

Dave nodded miserably, "I'm sorry, Pumpkin, I'm just trying to keep all of us safe. If you leave here to go to school, not only would you be unsafe there, but it puts your mother and I in danger back here since the security team would be stretched thin."

Abby gave a shaky sigh, "This really sucks."

"You're right, it does," he told her. "I'm _so_ sorry about all of this, honey."

She shook her head, "It's not your fault dad, I know you're just looking out for me and mom and it's not like you had anything to do with all of this."

Taking another deep breath, Dave said, "Actually, you might want to hold off on blaming me. We know who the mastermind is behind all of this."

JJ and Abby both perked up. "Who is it Dave?" JJ asked.

"It's Suzette…my ex-wife," he answered, afraid of what their reactions would be.


	46. Chapter 46

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 46

**~I'm writing from my childhood home where there is no Wi-fi and it's practically a death match to fight my sisters for a chance at dad's antiquated computer. In other words, this may be the last time I post until I get home on Wednesday.**

* * *

"WHAT?" They shouted simultaneously. JJ's arm shot around her daughter and she pulled her closer to her, as if to protect her.

Dave nodded, "Suzette was the one who hired Will and his partner."

"Has she been here?" JJ asked frantically, her mind going a hundred miles an hour.

"No, the guys cleared the place last week and they didn't find evidence of-" JJ interrupted her husband.

"Has she _ever_ been here before?" She yelled.

Dave looked confused but he answered the question, "She never lived here, but she's been here once or twice for various reasons."

JJ released her daughter and looked at her, "Go pack a bag, we're leaving!" Abby watched as her mother struggled to get up from the bed.

"What the fuck are you talking about, Jen?" Dave asked, as he got up from his seat at the table. "You shouldn't be getting out of bed!" He gently held her down to prevent her from hurting herself.

"I'm going to do more than get out of bed, David! I'm going to pack a bag for myself so I can leave as well!"

"You're leaving me?" Dave practically whispered the question. He knew they would take it badly, but he never thought his wife would _leave _him over this!

"No…of course not, you should pack a bag as well because we're not staying here! She knows this place, she knows how to get in and if she doesn't do it herself, she'll instruct her henchmen on how to do it! I can't _believe _you brought us back here!" She wasn't angry with him that it was his ex-wife threatening them but she was furious that he'd brought them back into, what she considered to be, an unsafe setting.

Seeing that his wife was getting worked up and knowing that it was the _last _thing she needed, Dave tried to allay her fears. "Honey, this is the safest place for us. Yes, Suzette has been here before, but between the team and the private security guys, we have this place sealed like its fucking Camp David. No one, and I mean _no one_ will set foot on this property without us knowing about it. Believe me, Jen, no one is going to get to us here."

JJ frantically shook her head, "No David! NO! I don't care how safe you _think _this place is, if she's been here it's already compromised. I will _not _have my daughter staying in such a vulnerable place! You need to call Hotch and have him find us a safe house immediately!" It was as if all of the fear JJ had pent up regarding the shooting and the attack on her family was bursting out. She turned to Abby and screeched, "Why aren't you packing a bag?"

Abby was staring at her mother wide-eyed, "Mom…" she practically whispered, not knowing what else to say. Was she pissed that a woman from her father's past was making their lives a living hell? Yes, but she didn't think leaving was the answer. She looked at her father, since she was at a loss for what to do.

"Stay there Abby," he said, understanding the look she'd directed his way. "No one is going anywhere."

"Yes we ARE!" JJ yelled as she squirmed from her husband's grip. She stood up and swayed on her feet for a second before stalking over to the dresser. She yanked a drawer open, "I always knew you had a past and I was okay with it, but I _never_ thought that one of your former wives would actually put our family in danger! My God, David, we could all be DEAD because of her! The fact that she hired Will to kill us is evidence of both her knowledge about us and her twistedness."

Before Dave could speak, he heard his daughter pipe up. "This isn't dad's fault, mom, it's _her_ fault. Dad couldn't have known just how crazy she was." He was both touched that Abby was sticking up for him and he was worried about his wife's current emotional state.

JJ spun to face her daughter, "You're right, it isn't your father's fault that his deranged ex-wife tried to have all of us killed, but it _is _his fault for bringing us back to an unsafe environment!"

"Damn it, woman!" Dave yelled as the exhaustion, stress and fear from the past ten days began to catch up with him. "I already told you that the cabin is the safest place for us! We have cameras and alarms set up along the perimeter of the property, the seclusion makes it easier for us to spot unwelcome visitors and I have enough armed guards here to occupy a small country! We are _not_ going to some shithole safe house where we would have maybe two guards watching out for us, we're all staying right here!" Seeing that his wife was about to interrupt him, he held up his hand to stop her and kept talking. "While we were in New York, I also had Steve's firm upgrade the security system inside the cabin. We'll have motion sensors on at night, along with guards stationed on the porch and back deck. We have a new alarm system that rivals the White House and the windows in the kitchen, study, great room and our bedrooms have been made bullet proof. Trust me honey, this is the safest place for us; I've been working on this since that first night in the hospital when Hotch told me that we were all potential targets."

JJ was slightly mollified. "Maybe I'm crazy, but all right, we'll stay here. You've never let us down before, David, and I don't expect that you'll let us down now."

He breathed a sigh of relief, "Thanks Jen, you won't regret this. Now let's get you back into bed." As he helped his wife back into bed, he saw both confusion and anger on his daughter's face. "What?" He asked, as he pulled the sheet and blanket over JJ's legs.

"You knew that first night that we might be targets?" Dave nodded as JJ leaned back against the pillows. "And you never thought to let _me_ know?" Abby yelled.

"Pumpkin-"

"NO! Why didn't you _tell_ me?" She screeched.

"Because you were dealing with too much as it was!" He said loudly. "You had seen both of us shot, you were dealing with your grandfather and we were waiting to hear whether or not your mother would live through her operation! I sure as _hell _wasn't going to add to your plate of trouble! Besides, what does it matter? It would have done you no good to know about it."

"What good would it have done?" Abby repeated incredulously. "Maybe if I'd known, I would have been more careful at the hospital. Maybe if I'd known, all of what I'm hearing now wouldn't be as much of a surprise to me. Maybe if I'd known about the threat, I wouldn't have opened the hotel door so easily the night Will tried to kill us! God dad! You can't keep stuff like this from me! I'm not a kid anymore, I need to know what's going on!"

"Dammit, both of you listen to me! I don't know what in the hell you expect from me, but I'm sorry that someone from my past is doing this to us, I'm sorry you're worried about our safety here and I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the threat against us the moment I knew about it!" Dave was yelling by this point, "I don't know what else to tell you except that we _are_ safe here! _No one_ is going to get to us here! And Abby, you _are_ still a kid and I'll be goddamned if I'm going to have you worry over every little thing that happens!" Seeing the looks on his girl's faces, he took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "I have to go call Hotch and get some updates about the search for Suzette." He grabbed their dinner dishes and left the room.

After he left, Abby and JJ sat on the bed in silence, both processing the events of the past fifteen minutes. Abby finally spoke up, "You know he's right, mom. The cabin sounds a lot safer than some crappy safe house."

JJ nodded, "You're right, it was just a shock to learn that one of his ex-wives is behind all of this."

They were both quiet for another few minutes. "You know your dad was just looking out for you by not telling you about the threat possibility at the hospital, right?"

"I know…I still think he should have told me, but I understand why he didn't," Abby said with a sigh. "This really sucks."

"I know, honey, and I'm sorry you got caught up in all of this."

She shrugged, "Want me to put in a movie?" She asked, trying to change the subject.

JJ knew what her daughter was doing but decided to play along, "Definitely, how about _The Hangover_?"

Abby smiled and put the DVD in the player and then came back to the bed. She got in and lay down next to her mother in the middle of the bed. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she felt her mom's arm slide around her and they watched the humorous movie in silence. Ten minutes later, they were both sound asleep.

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While his girls were talking about him and watching their movie in the master bedroom, Dave was in the study talking to Hotch on his cell phone.

"How did they take it?" He asked.

"Which part, the one where I told them that we're pretty much prisoners here or the one where I told them one of my former wives is the one gunning for us?"

There was a pause, "Both."

Dave sighed, "About as well as you would think. JJ freaked out and talked about leaving, Abby yelled at me for both not being able to go to school and for not telling her about the threat while we were in the hospital, and I'm sure that by now they're both talking about me upstairs."

"Sounds rough," Hotch sympathized.

"It is," Dave told him and then shook his head to clear his thoughts. "How are things going in the search for Suzette?"

"Well, there's good news and there's bad news. The good news is that Garcia was able to figure out one of Suzette's aliases and she's been tracking her electronic movements that way."

"Okay," Dave said, wondering what was coming next. "What's the bad news?"

"She transferred $150,000 to a bank account in the Cayman Islands yesterday."

"Fuck! She's hired someone else to come after us!"

"More than one person, Dave," Hotch told him. "I talked to one of my friends in the white collar division and he said the going rate for this type of hit would be around $50,000. If I had to guess, I would say she hired a team."

"Jesus, Aaron," Dave breathed, realizing that the threat against his family just got a lot more intense.

"I know, Dave, and I've already talked to Steve about this. He's going to add a couple of more guys to the team around the cabin."

"I guess that's all we can do at this point. You have no idea where Suzette might be?"

"None," Hotch told him, "But Garcia is working twenty-four hours a day looking for her, as is the rest of the team."

"I know, and I appreciate it, Hotch." He sighed again as he got up from his leather desk chair. "I'd better get back up to the bedroom before the women in my life begin planning my demise."

"Good luck with that my friend," Hotch told him.

"Thanks," Dave disconnected the call and slowly walked up the stairs, uneasily wondering what might be waiting for him in the master bedroom. As he opened the door, he was surprised by the sight that greeted him. He had been expecting to find two angry women but instead he saw that both of his girls were asleep in the bed. He took a minute to stare down at them, and he thanked the fates above that they had made it through their ordeal in one piece. He knew there was still a very real threat against them, but he was thankful that they had made it through so far.

He moved toward the bed with a soft smile on his face and he bent down to wake his daughter. Just as he put his hand down to give her a little shake, he heard JJ speak softly. "Just leave her, Dave, she can sleep in here tonight."

He shook his head, "She thrashes around a lot with her nightmares, Jen, and I don't want her to accidentally hurt you."

"I'm not made of China, honey; she won't break me," JJ said with a smile on her lips.

Dave wanted to protest some more, but decided to go along with her. He quickly ducked into the bathroom to change, and when he got back out to the bedroom, his wife had fallen asleep again. He gently eased into the bed with his wife and daughter and fell asleep a minute later.


	47. Chapter 47

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 47

* * *

That night was a rough one. First JJ woke up, moaning in pain and Dave managed to talk her into taking two of her pain pills. Then, two hours later, Abby woke up screaming. When asked about her nightmare, she wouldn't retell it, saying it was too scary to think about. Once she finally fell back asleep, Dave had had his own nightmare and woke up in a cold sweat.

Sitting bolt upright in the bed after his own nightmare, he got his heartbeat and breathing back under control and then looked over at his sleeping daughter and wife. In his dream, which had seemed so very real, he'd dreamed that while he was in the bathroom of the hotel room, he'd gotten the call that JJ had been killed by Will's associate. When he'd opened the door to tell Abby, Will had been standing there with a knife to her throat and as soon as he'd seen Dave, he'd dragged the knife across her neck. As he awoke, Dave could swear he still felt the warmth of her blood as it sprayed over him.

Tearing his eyes away from the sleeping beauties that were sharing the bed with him, he glanced at the clock and saw that it read eight o'clock. Sighing in relief that he could stay awake for the day, he lay back down on his side and stared at both his wife and daughter.

JJ, slowly coming out of her drug induced sleep, could feel someone watching her and as she slowly cracked one eye open and she wasn't surprised to see her husband staring at her. Turning slowly onto her side, she opened both eyes. "Hi," she said softly as she saw that her daughter was still asleep.

"Hi," Dave said, just as softly as he leaned over Abby and gave his wife a soft kiss on the lips. When they pulled apart, JJ stretched leisurely, wincing as she felt some of her stitches pull.

"What? What is it?" Dave asked, as he saw the brief look of pain cross her face.

"It's nothing, honey, I just pulled a little too hard on my stitches; everything's fine," she tried reassuring him. It didn't work.

"Do you want me to call the doctor? Do you need to have your sutures checked?" He was about to reach for his cell phone when he felt her hand cover his.

"I'm fine, David, really," she said gently. "You need to relax now that we're back home."

"How can I do that, Jen?" He asked as he smoothed hair away from Abby's face. "I almost lost everything…I almost lost the people I love most in the world."

"But you didn't; we're fine, sweetheart," JJ told him gently.

"How the fuck can you say that? Look at you! You're recovering from a bullet to the chest for Christ's sake, I'm getting over a gunshot wound to the shoulder…hell, even our daughter is recovering from physical injuries!" He whispered fiercely, so as not to wake Abby. He gestured at her sleeping face, which bore the yellowish remnants of a black eye, a still healing lip and her throat still had stitches from the lacerations that Will had inflicted upon her. "Plus, don't even get me _started _on the psychological wounds we've all sustained from this."

"Yes, but Dave, the key words in your diatribe is that we're all recovering. The three of us lived through the horrors we faced in New York and we're getting over them and we'll get over what we're currently facing," she said quietly, but firmly. "I know I flew off the handle last night, and I'm sorry for that. I have complete faith in you and the security you've set up here and I know you'll keep us safe."

Dave teared up a little upon hearing his wife's words, "I'm so sorry Jen, I'm more sorry than you could ever imagine. If Suzette had gone after just me, that would be one thing, at least I would be the only target, but-" His wife interrupted him.

"Stop it right now, David," JJ said, anger and frustration evident in her voice. "How do you think _I _would feel if Will had managed to kill you? What do you think Abby would do without you? Don't you get it? We _need_ you! You're a part of us, whether you like it or not, and if you died…well, I'm not sure what Abby and I would do." JJ's eyes misted up just thinking about losing her husband.

Dave, who was touched by his wife's admission, stroked her hair. "Hey, I'm not going anywhere for quite awhile, just like you and Abby aren't. I just feel bad that a part of my past is causing you and Abby both physical and emotional pain…and it doesn't sound like she's finished yet."

"What does that mean?"

Dave took a deep breath and told her about the money transfer and Hotch's theory that Suzette had hired a team to come after them. She blanched when she heard that and she looked down at Abby and took a deep breath before looking back up at Dave. "It sounds like we're going to have to be on constant guard. Dave, I don't want Abby knowing about any of this," JJ told him. "I know she said last night that she wanted to know what was happening, but we both know that she's in a fragile emotional state right now and I think this development would only scare her even more."

He nodded, "I agree, honey." He was about to say more when he heard his daughter begin to whimper in her sleep. Soon the whimpering turned into full-fledged tears as she began to thrash around. Dave, who was worried about her accidentally hurting her mother, shook her awake.

"Wake up, Pumpkin!" He said soothingly, "It's all right, you're safe." Abby's eyes flew open and she sat up, looking all around. "He's not here?"

"Who?" JJ asked, already knowing the answer.

"Will!" Abby yelled, as if it were obvious.

"You were dreaming, Pumpkin," Dave said, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close to him; he could feel her shaking.

"I'm so tired of this," Abby said, tears streaming down her face. "I'm tired of going to sleep afraid of what my dreams are going to bring!"

"It will get better with time, sweetie," JJ said, hoping her words were true.

"Yeah?" Abby said pathetically as she wiped the tears from her face.

JJ nodded and held out her arms, and Abby shifted from her father to her mother and she let her comfort her as if she was a small child.

After a few minutes in her mother's arms, Abby finally pulled away. "So what do we have for breakfast?"

Dave thought for a minute, "I left a list with the guys and asked them to stock the place, so we should have bagels." He saw Abby nod and start to get up, but he put his hand up to stop her. "We could all use some rest, so I was thinking that we could just stay in here and watch movies all day. I don't know about the two of you, but I don't plan on getting out of my pajamas today."

"Well obviously I'm not going to either, although I have a feeling that I won't be wearing regular clothing for quite awhile," JJ said, agreeing with Dave about their need for rest. Abby also agreed. "Okay then, I'll go down and fix breakfast and I'll grab some movies that we can _all_ agree on." JJ and Abby nodded and watched as he left the room.

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The three of them lounged around the master bedroom for most of the day, talking, watching movies and dozing on and off. At around five o'clock, Abby got up to start dinner, and Dave followed her down the stairs. He knew she was still nervous about being left alone. "Whatcha gonna make, Pumpkin?" He asked as they entered the kitchen.

"Since mom is still kind of on a mushy food diet, I thought I'd make chicken a la king and mashed potatoes."

"Sounds great. I'm gonna get some of the guys in here while you cook, so you can meet them, okay?" He wanted her to be comfortable with having the security guards around and he hoped that knowing someone was always nearby watching the house would let her relax about being alone in the various rooms of the house.

Abby nodded as she pulled some chicken out of the freezer. By the time she had finished cooking the meal, she had been introduced to about twenty-five guys, all of them blending together in her mind.

"Dinner's ready, dad," she called, knowing he was in the breakfast nook talking to two of the security guys.

"Smells great, Abby," he said, coming into the room with the security guards coming with him. "Honey, I want you to meet Steve," he gestured to one of the guys, "He's the head of the company and he's in charge of our security."

Steve put out his hand and Abby shook it, "Have you got something against hiring women, Steve?" She asked.

"What?" He asked with a soft smile. He was a large and imposing man, who looked like he was around fifty years old and Abby was surprised to see that his smile lit up his face.

"I've only met men today, do you have _any _women in your company?"

He shook his head, "No, I don't right now. Maybe when you graduate from high school you can come work for me; I hear you know how to keep calm in dangerous situations."

Dave jumped in, "Don't go putting ideas in her head," he growled. "She's going to college and then law school and then she's going to work in a nice, safe law firm."

Steve's smiled widened and he just shook his head. "I'm going to want to work with you on your self defense and shooting later this week, Abby."

Seeing the look of apprehension come over Abby's face, Dave said, "We just got home, Steve, we can talk about that later."

The larger man nodded and then gestured to the other guard standing next to him, "Abby, this is Paul. He's your point man."

Abby scrunched up her face in confusion, "What does that mean?"

"It means that his main responsibility is you. If you need anything from the outside world, he's the one you go to. His main focus is on your needs and keeping you safe. Each of your parents also has a guard assigned to them."

Paul stepped up and Abby held out her hand to him. He was smaller than Steve, and he looked more studious, but he was well-built, and both Abby and Dave had no doubt that the man could take care of any threats against her.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Rossi," he said. "If you ever need anything, or have any concerns, please let me know and I'll try to take care of them for you."

"Thanks Paul," Abby said. The two men left and Abby started putting the food into the bowls.

"What did Steve mean when he said he wanted to work with me on my shooting and my self-defense skills?" She asked.

Dave sighed, "No one thinks it will ever come to this, but should Suzette or any of her guys get into the house, we want to make sure you can take care of yourself." Dave watched as Abby froze while ladling some of the chicken onto the potatoes. He could tell she was trying to process things and he knew she was having a difficult time when he saw her hand begin to shake. "It's just a precaution, honey. Anyone who would want to get in here would have to get past three separate layers of security, not to mention the guys stationed on the porch and deck."

She thought for another minute and managed to put the new information into a box in her head. She finished putting the food together and she and her father headed back up the stairs. On the way up, she wondered if she would ever feel safe again.


	48. Chapter 48

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 48

~I've been too busy to respond personally to reviewers lately, and my AC adapter on my laptop just died and I only have a few minutes left on my battery, so I won't be able to right now either, so let me just say to all of the reviewers out there, thank you! Reviews really help motivate me. Also, let me give a special shout out to the people who have consistently reviewed the last couple of chapters: **HansonFanGermany, mummacass, mrytale2-5, Kimd33 and lilz54. **You guys rock!

~Because of the low battery issue, the editing on this chapter kind of sucks...sorry for any typos, etc.

* * *

The next week went by slowly for the members of the Rossi family. JJ, who was still healing from her bullet wound, spent much of the time either sleeping or watching TV in the large master bed. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how one looked at it, she had company while she was watching TV as she and Abby decided to have a _Friends _marathon. They had all of the seasons on DVD and they played them all, starting with the pilot episode. Even Dave, when he wasn't working remotely with the team on catching Suzette, joined them in their IQ lowering activity and surprisingly he came to enjoy the antics of the six friends. Since JJ was still sleeping a lot in order to heal, they didn't have much time for TV and when she was awake she focused on trying to get her daughter to talk about the events that had transpired, but Abby was close-mouthed about the whole ordeal.

Abby may not have wanted to talk about what had and was currently happening to her family, but she'd made strides in gaining back some of her former independence and confidence. The second night they were home she slept in her own room alone. Even with her door open and her parent's door open it was scary to sleep alone, but she was comforted by the thought that there were at least five guys solely guarding the house, not to mention all of the people guarding the entire property. While she awoke with nightmares numerous times that night, she hadn't rejoined her parents in their bedroom until breakfast. She considered it to be a small victory.

She enjoyed spending time with her mom by watching DVD's as she felt like she hadn't spent much time with her since Dave had entered the picture. It became the norm for her to curl up with her mom on the king sized bed and her mother would stroke her hair until one of them inevitably fell asleep. It made Abby feel safe and loved and when her father joined them in their television viewing, it added to her feeling of comfort.

While she may have had fleeting feelings of comfort, Abby, along with her parents, also felt the cabin fever and boredom begin to creep into her life. On their third day of being stuck in the cabin, Abby and Dave had a video conference with her principal and she promised to have Abby's classes recorded and then sent to her via email so she could listen to the lectures. It wasn't the greatest setup, but it was better than nothing. Abby also grew increasingly distant from her friends in the outside world. Part of it was a jealousy of their freedom, but part of it was that it was a pain in the ass to talk to them. Dave had taken away her cell phone because he didn't want her to get threatening calls on it and her email was filtered through Garcia's computers at Quantico, in case Suzette tried sending her anything. The filter slowed her email program almost to the speed of molasses, so it was easier to use it only to retrieve emails from her teachers and principal. Dave had also restricted the use of programs such as facebook and twitter for safety reasons, so Abby found herself using her computer only for school work.

Dave, for his part, felt horrible for holding his daughter and wife as virtual prisoners in the cabin. While he enjoyed the time it gave him to spend cuddling with his wife, he was also restricted in his freedom, but he was at least able to remotely help the team with the case and it broke up some of the monotony. He knew that JJ wasn't up to doing much yet, so the tediousness of being stuck at the cabin hadn't affected her as much, but he could tell that Abby was beginning to go stir crazy. He wished he could have her invite some of her friends over, or even his mother or the team, but it was too much of a risk for people to constantly be coming and going from the cabin. While Suzette and her henchmen surely knew where they were staying, the guards around the property could protect them, but if people came and went from the place it would mess up routines and routes and the guards would have to focus on protecting the new arrivals instead of his family and the property. Dave was not willing to take that chance. Or so he thought.

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Four days after they returned to the cabin, Abby was curled up on the large bed with her mother, watching yet another episode of _Friends _with her mother, when her father walked in holding what appeared to be some mail.

"Can you turn that off for a minute, Pumpkin?" He asked as he turned on the overhead light.

Abby grabbed the remote and pressed the power button as she sat up in the luxurious bed. JJ did the same, wincing a little as she shifted position.

"What's wrong, David?" JJ asked with trepidation in her voice.

"Nothing's wrong," he said as she sat down in the middle of the bed, facing his girls. "Steve brought us all of our mail for the past two weeks and there are a few things in here that I thought our daughter would like." He placed six large envelopes in her lap; all of them bearing college return addresses.

"College acceptance letters," Abby whispered. She had applied to six schools and she'd gotten six 'big envelopes' in return, so that meant…oh my God, that meant she'd gotten in to every school she'd applied to.

A huge grin overtook Dave's face for more than one reason. The main reason he was smiling was because it looked as though she'd been accepted to every college she'd applied to, but the other reason was because she'd gotten into Georgetown, which was her first choice, and it meant she'd be staying near them, possibly even living at home if he could talk her into it.

JJ was also smiling, but her smile had a tiny bit of sadness to it. While she was proud of her daughter and her successes, it meant that she was growing up and she was no longer the little girl who relied on her. JJ just prayed that Abby would decide to live at home for the next year or two. After all that had happened to them, she didn't know if she could bear saying goodbye to her, even if she would be living only thirty minutes away.

As she pawed through the pile of college packets on her lap, Abby was also grinning like a fool. She'd been anxiously awaiting these envelopes for months, but with everything that had happened she'd totally forgotten about them. Now that they were here, she felt the excitement build as she tore into them.

"Well, Georgetown wants me," she told her parents excitedly as she passed around her acceptance letter. "As do UVA, American University, Penn State, NYU and Columbia." As she said the last two colleges, she dumped their packets in the trash. Like she would ever voluntarily live in New York City after all of the terrible things that had happened there!

JJ reached over and pulled her into her arms, "Congratulations, honey! I can't tell you how proud I am of you!"

"Thanks mom," Abby said modestly as she finally pulled away from her. Once she was out of her mother's clutches, she found herself in her father's arms.

"We're _both _extremely proud of you, Pumpkin! I don't think I know anyone, other than Reid, who got accepted to all of the colleges they applied to!" Dave thanked God one more time that JJ had evidently passed on her academic drive to their daughter.

"Thanks dad," Abby said, smiling.

"And by going to Georgetown, you'll be able to live here!" He said brightly as he released her.

Abby just laughed and said, "Do you mind if I let the fact that I was accepted _anywhere _sink in for a minute before I start planning my living arrangements?"

He grinned, "Sure thing, Abby. We can discuss it in another ten minutes or so."

Still laughing, Abby shook her head at her father's presumptuousness and then looked over at her mother. She was surprised to see that her mother had tears in her eyes and looked frustrated. "What's wrong, mom?"

Dave also looked concerned, "Do you need your pain pills, Jen?" He asked, reaching for the nightstand drawer.

JJ shook her head, "No, no…it's just that this wasn't how I envisioned this day. I always knew you'd get in to whatever colleges you applied to, honey, and I imagined us throwing a huge party with all of your friends and our family so we could celebrate your accomplishment. Now look at us! We're all sitting in bed because of me! I can't even get up and jump around in excitement."

Both Dave and Abby knew that JJ was getting seriously annoyed by her new limitations and they could tell she was about to lose it. Knowing that wouldn't be good for his wife, and privately acknowledging that she _did_ have a point, he piped up.

"Hey, we can still have a celebration. Why don't we invite Jimmy, my mother and the team over for dinner tomorrow night? We can see if Hotch will bring Jack with him and we'll have a joint celebration for both of the kids. I'm sure Jack has gotten his letters, and I'm betting he got into some really great schools as well."

"But what about the security? Won't having everyone over stretch it too thin?" Abby asked, getting her hopes up.

"I'll talk to Steve about it, but since nearly everyone here will be armed and it's only for one night, it shouldn't be a problem," he told her.

"That sounds like a great idea David," JJ said.

"Okay then, I'm going to go talk to Steve. I'll leave you and the collegiate here to continue rotting your brain cells with the boob tube," he said as he left the room.

Abby grinned as she grabbed the remote and pressed play; she didn't have to be intelligently ready for college for another few months.


	49. Chapter 49

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 49

**~Sorry for the delay in posting, I've been sick for the last few days and it gave me a case of writer's block. I seem to be past it now, so (hopefully) it won't be as long until my next posting.**

**~This is a monster chapter! Because I was getting past the block, I didn't want to break up my writing and screw everything up in my head, so the result is a huge chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

At around one o'clock the next afternoon, Dave looked up from the pot of minestrone he'd been cooking to find his wife slowly making her way into the kitchen.

"Jen! What in the hell are you doing down here?" He'd left her in the master bedroom, along with a DVD while Abby worked on some of her schoolwork in the study.

"I got fed up with staring at the same bedroom walls over and over again, so I decided to change the scenery," she said as he helped her to a kitchen chair.

"Dammit, you _know_ I don't want you taking the stairs by yourself, hell, I don't want you taking the stairs at all, but sure as hell not alone! What if you get dizzy and lose your balance? Do you want to crack your head open?"

"I'm fine, Dave," she said, somewhat testily. "You are being _way_ too protective."

"Excuse the hell out of me, Jen, but you almost _died_! In fact, you _did _die a couple of times! I'm sorry if seeing them perform CPR on you has left me with a few protective issues!" Dave wanted to keep his temper in check, but he was ready to strangle his wife at that moment.

Seeing how upset her husband was, JJ gave him a gentle smile, "I'm sorry, honey. I forget how scared you must have been."

"You're damn right I was scared!" He told her as he came over to sit next to her at the table. "I thought I was going to lose you, Jen."

"But you didn't lose me, I'm right here, but I understand your over protectiveness and I'll try to put up with it during my recovery."

"That's all I can ask for, sweetheart," he said as he dropped a soft kiss on to her lips. Their tender moment was interrupted a moment later by their daughter entering the room.

Upon seeing her parents engaging in a not so rare public display of affection, Abby just rolled her eyes and began opening cabinet doors. After a few minutes of watching her, Dave finally asked her what she was looking for.

"Peanut butter cookies," she told him. "I want something sweet and I would _kill_ for some peanut butter cookies. I put them on the grocery list that you gave to the guys yesterday, so we should have some." Dave could hear the frustration in her voice. "Have you seen them?" She asked, pulling another cabinet door open, hoping to find the sweet treats.

"Sorry Pumpkin, I haven't seen any around here; maybe they forgot them."

"That's just great!" She yelled, shutting the cabinet door with a bang and yanking open another one. "All I want are some fucking cookies! If I have to be stuck here like a fucking prisoner, the least I should be able to do is eat some goddamn peanut butter cookies!" She slammed the cabinet door shut, making her shocked parents wince at the loud sound. "Fuck it! I guess I'll go back to writing my paper without satisfying my sweet tooth! It's not like I have any fucking clue as to what I'm writing about anyway, since I haven't been able to go to school for the last three weeks!" Her parents stared in shock as she stomped back towards the study.

After a minute, Dave finally found his voice, "What the hell was that all about?" He asked, standing up. He took one step towards the office, fully intending to have a loud discussion with his daughter about her tantrum and her language usage, when he felt his wife's hand on his forearm.

"Just let it go Dave," she said quietly.

"Let it go?" He repeated incredulously, "She used the f-word four times in her little rant, not to mention that we didn't deserve to be talked to like that!"

"I know that and you know that, and even _she _knows that, but we've been stuck here for nearly a week and it's beginning to take its toll on her, so I'm telling you to let it go."

"Fine," he grumbled as he plopped back down into his seat, "But I'm not happy about it."

"I know, but I'm hoping the get together tonight will help lessen some of the cabin fever she's been feeling," his wife told him.

"About that," Dave began hesitantly, "We can't have the party, honey. I talked to Steve and he thinks it's too risky and I'm inclined to agree with him. By having Jimmy, my mother, Jack and the team here, it raises the number of potential targets that the security team has to protect and it could take away from yours and Abby's safety. I'm not willing to do that Jen."

JJ took as deep a breath as she could, since her chest was still sore from her gunshot wound, and looked her husband in the eye, "I love you David and I understand your concerns, but I'm telling you that we _are_ having a party tonight, whether you and Steve like it or not."

"Jen-" Dave tried to argue, but JJ wouldn't let him.

"Our daughter," she continued, "Has worked her ass off for _twelve years_ for this moment and I'm not going to deny her a celebration of her accomplishment. As it is, the party planned for tonight is not anything close to what I wanted for her, but under the circumstances I know it's the best I can do."

"But-"

"No buts," JJ said "Most of the people coming are also armed, so they shouldn't be as much of a worry. As for Jack, Jimmy and your mother…tough, Steve needs to figure out a way to deal with it because it's happening."

"I won't risk yours and Abby's safety, Jen!" Dave said loudly.

JJ stared at him for a minute before a deceptively sweet smile stretched across her face. "I've lived by your rules since coming home, Dave. I've eaten what you've put in front of me, I've napped when you've ordered me to, and other than today I haven't taken the stairs by myself. I take my medicine when I need to and I've stayed in bed just like you wanted."

"I know that honey," Dave said carefully, not sure where this line of discussion was going to lead, but fairly certain he wouldn't like the outcome.

"And I'm telling you right now Dave, if you pull the plug on this party, I'm going to become the worst patient you've ever seen! All of my cooperation will end faster than you can blink!"

Dave saw red at her statement, "Are you honestly threatening to endanger your own health, your own _life_ for a party?" He yelled. If she thought that was going to happen, she was in for one hell of a rude awakening.

Realizing what she'd threatened, JJ lowered her voice, "No, of course not, I'm sorry I threatened that, Dave, I would never endanger my health out of spite. I just really want to do this for Abby. She's worked so hard and she's having such a rough time and I want both her and Jack to be able to celebrate their accomplishments…I want her to feel normal again, even if it's only for one night." Tears rolled down her cheeks as she finished speaking and Dave felt them cut into his heart like a knife.

"Shit honey, no fair crying! You know what your tears do to me!"

"I'm sorry Dave, I can't help it. This whole thing has taken a toll on me as well," she said, sniffling.

"I'm sorry too, I didn't realize how important tonight is to you. I'll go talk to Steve and let him know we're still going to have everyone over," Dave said begrudgingly.

JJ leaned over and kissed him, "Thanks honey," she murmured in his ear.

He shook his head, "I've been a hardened FBI agent for more years than I would like to admit. I've gone up against some of the worst serial killers on the planet, yet all it takes is your tears to make me cave in."

xxxxxxxxxxx

Four hours later, just as Abby hit the send button to email her paper to her history teacher, she smelled the delicious scent of her grandmother's tomato sauce.

Closing her laptop, she got up from her desk and made her way into the kitchen. As she entered the warm room, she saw her grandmother standing at the kitchen island chopping fresh basil.

"Nonna!" Abby squealed happily. It was so nice to see a familiar face…a familiar face that wasn't one of her parents or a member of the security team. She ran over to her grandmother and hugged her.

Marie returned the hug and then released her granddaughter, taking a good look at her. She still looked too thin and she looked like she wasn't sleeping well, as evidenced by the dark circles under her eyes. She also didn't have as much of a spark about her as she'd had in the past and Marie hoped that was something she could regain after this whole ordeal was over.

"It's so good to see you, Little One! I've missed you."

"I've missed you too, Nonna, you have no idea how much."

"Things are getting a little boring here?" She asked.

"That's an understatement," Abby told her as she grabbed an apron. "Can I help you with anything?"

Marie put her to work chopping vegetables for the salad, while she made the pasta dough, and the two worked together in silence for about ten minutes before Marie spoke again.

"How have you been doing with everything, Abby?" She asked, concerned.

"I'm fine Nonna, how have you been? How are things in the neighborhood?" She asked, trying to change the subject. It didn't work. Marie Rossi had raised five children and she knew a deflection tactic when she heard one.

"I've been fine, but I want to hear about _you_," she said. "You look tired, have you been having nightmares?"

Abby almost lied to her grandmother and told her no, but she remembered that Nonna could spot a lie even quicker than her father could, so she decided to tell the truth. "Yeah, pretty much every night, but don't tell mom and dad, they have enough on their plates without worrying about me."

"They're your parents, they'll always worry about you," Marie told her.

"I know, but I don't want to add to it if I can help it. Besides, the nightmares aren't too bad," she said unconvincingly.

"Abigail," her grandmother said sternly, "I may have only met you a few years ago, but I can tell when something is wrong, so if it's not the nightmares, then what is it?"

Abby gave a shuddery sigh, "It's everything. I feel so scared all of the time! I'm scared that we'll be attacked here, that the security team won't be able to protect us. I'm scared that mom will get sick again, that something will go wrong with her recovery. I'm worried about dad, he was shot too and he never really did anything about it. Plus, now he's taken on the responsibility of worrying about all of _us_. All of that stress can't be good for him."

Marie was touched that someone other than she was worried about his son's well-being, although she wished it wasn't her young granddaughter doing the worrying.

"Plus I'm going crazy here! I want to go to school, I want to see my friends, and I want things to be normal again! As much as I love and worry about my parents, spending twenty-four/seven with them is starting to drive me insane! And I can't even talk to my friends in the outside world because dad has my cell phone and the internet is restricted so that Suzette won't try to contact me or threaten me. I feel like a prisoner here!"

Marie felt horrible for Abby and she was about to question her further, but at that moment her eldest son entered the kitchen.

"Mmmmm, it smells wonderful in here, ma," he told her, glad to have her in the kitchen.

"Thank you son; would you mind taking over for your daughter so she can start getting ready?" Marie asked him.

Dave nodded, came around to the counter and took the knife and apron from his daughter. As he tied the flowery apron around himself, he asked, "Did you finish your paper?"

Abby nodded as she detected the coolness in her father's voice; her outburst earlier must have pissed him off. "I'm sorry about before, dad. I was just really stressed and I _really_ wanted some of those cookies, but I shouldn't have taken it out on you and mom."

Dave appreciated her apology and he warmed his tone, "I get it, Pumpkin, but try to keep your tirade a little cleaner next time, okay? Because if you ever use the f-word like that again, I can guarantee you'll learn really quickly how Ivory soap tastes. Got it?"

Abby nodded, "Got it."

He smiled at her, "Good. Now why don't you go jump in the shower? Our guests should be arriving in less than an hour."

"'Kay dad," she said as she kissed him on the cheek and then left the room.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Marie turned to her son and said, "She looks terrible, Davie; you both do."

"What can I say, ma? I'm burning the candle at both ends trying to keep us safe. I can't sleep because as soon as the lights go out, I think of all of the terrible things that could happen to them. God, I don't know what I'll do if I lose them," he said, fear and despair evident in his voice.

"You won't lose them, Davie, you'll protect them and you'll catch the she-beast and things will return to normal."

"Will they?" He asked, decimating the carrot in front of him. "Jen's going to have repercussions from her injury for the rest of her life, and Abby…she's seen and felt so many terrible things in such a short amount of time, who knows if she'll ever be back to normal? What if something else happens? What if she sees or hears or feels something else?"

"She's going to be all right, Davie, you all are," Marie reiterated as she set her dough down. She came over and put her arms around her son. "I know as the man of the house you're dealing with a lot, and if it ever gets to be too much, you call me and talk to me, okay?"

Dave, feeling like a small child, returned the hug and then pulled away from his mother and nodded, "Thanks ma," he said softly as he resumed chopping the carrots.

xxxxxxxxxx

Nearly an hour later, Abby stepped out of her bedroom feeling refreshed. She had used up almost all of the hot water in the house with her long shower, but it had been worth it to feel human again. As she got to the staircase, she saw her mother inching her way down the stairs. So far, she'd made it down three of the steps by holding on tightly to the railing.

"Mom, what are you doing?"

JJ flashed a bright smile at her daughter. She knew she was busted, but she hoped Abby wouldn't tell Dave about it. "Oh, hi honey. I'm just making my way down to the great room."

"But you shouldn't be taking the stairs by yourself, you could fall and hurt yourself! You're still weak from the surgery and your pain meds make you dizzy!" Abby told her, worried that her mother would keel over right in front of her.

"I'm _fine_ Abby, I'm taking the stairs slow so I won't hurt myself."

"I really think you should let dad help you, mom."

JJ shook her head, "There's no need to bother your father with this; I have to be able to do this alone."

"But-"

"No buts, Abby," JJ said firmly, "I'm doing this."

Her daughter shook her head, "Just remember, you forced me to do this."

"Do what?" JJ was confused.

"This," Abby said and then took a deep breath, "DAD! Dad, come quick!"

JJ stared open mouthed at her daughter, "I can't _believe _you just did that! Are you _trying_ to get me in trouble with your father?"

Abby shook her head, "No, I'm _trying _to keep you safe."

Just then Dave approached the bottom of the staircase, "What's wrong, Pumpkin?" He asked and then he saw his wife. "Dammit Jen, we _just_ talked about this!" He took the stairs two at a time and was at her side in a matter of seconds.

"I know," she said weakly, "But you were busy in the kitchen and I didn't want to bother you."

"You are _not_ a bother to me, Jen," he said as he swung her into his arms. "Thanks for the heads up, Abby."

She nodded and then saw look her mother was giving her. "What?" She asked as they walked down the stairs.

"So much for loyalty," JJ sniffed haughtily, "You were my daughter before you were his, yet you ratted me out. Nice." At the end of her tirade, JJ stuck her tongue out at her daughter so she knew she was joking.

Abby laughed at her mother's antics and was still laughing when the doorbell rang.

xxxxxxxxxx

Two hours later, everyone had enjoyed a nice dinner and had moved to the great room with their desserts. Since most of the adults in the room had known either Jack or Abby for over seven years, there were many school stories they could share with the group at large and that's exactly what they did as soon as the initial congratulations were given and the talk of the two kid's futures was finished. The stories started out as cute school stories and had evolved from that into embarrassing school stories, and from there it metamorphed into telling just plain embarrassing and funny stories about the kids.

"So there I was," Dave said, "It was right after Abby had learned who I really was and she was at headquarters. I sent her out on a cafeteria run for me, since we all know I need massive amounts of sugar and caffeine to make it through afternoons of paperwork. Anyway, I looked out my office window and I saw that Strauss had stopped her in the bullpen and it looked like she was giving her a hard time. Well, I bolted from my office to see what was wrong, and when I approached them, it turned out that she and Abby were talking about something JJ had said at a press conference. They hadn't been arguing but instead they were talking and they'd known each other because of Jen. After about a minute of standing there, I finally cleared my throat and Strauss looked up at me and said, 'Can I help you with something, David?' and I just said, 'I was just wondering what was taking my daughter so long in getting my coffee and Danish.' You should have seen her," Dave said, laughing at the memory. "No one had told her that Abby was my kid and you could see that it just blew her mind that I had reproduced! She turned pale and headed back to her office without a word."

Everyone on the BAU team laughed at this. "She's not _that_ bad," Abby said, smiling. She had gotten along with the section chief the few times she had met her, but then again she didn't have to work for the woman.

"Trust me Pumpkin, she _is _that bad. I remember back in the day-" Dave's stroll down memory lane was cut short by popping sounds in the distance, which were followed by the loud bangs as bullets struck the bulletproof windows of the great room.


	50. Chapter 50

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 50

* * *

"Get the kids down!" Dave shouted as he pulled JJ to the ground. Derek and Spencer, who were closest to Abby and Jack, dove onto them and covered them with their bodies on the floor. As Dave did the same thing with JJ, he could see that Hotch was covering his mother and Emily was covering Jimmy. They heard four more bullets slam into the bullet proof glass and then there was dead silence. Dave was just about to say something when a security team burst through the patio door.

Everyone in the room who was armed drew their weapons, and it was a tense couple of seconds before Dave yelled, "Everyone drop your guns! This is part of the security team!"

All of the agents and the security guards slowly holstered their weapons and people started getting up from the floor. "Is everyone okay?" Dave asked and saw nodding heads all around.

"JJ, any new pain? I didn't hurt you when I pulled you down, did I?" Dave asked, helping her up from the floor.

She shook her head, "No, I think I'm okay, although I'm going to want a pain pill in a little while."

Dave turned to look at his daughter and was relieved to see that she hadn't shut down like she had when Will had attacked them. "Are you okay, Pumpkin?" He asked gently and was thankful when she nodded.

"Has the danger passed?" Dave asked Steve and he nodded. "Good, I want to get my mother and Jimmy out of here right away in case something else happens. Can you have a couple of your guys go with them?"

"Yes," Steve told him, "I brought on a few more guys tonight for protection and I'll send them out with your mother and friend."

Marie and Jimmy hastily got their belongings and said their goodbyes before they were whisked out of the cabin. Dave then sent Jack and Abby into the kitchen while the team talked in the great room. He wanted them in the kitchen because it was nearby and also because it had the least amount of windows of all of the rooms on the first floor. While it did have a door to the garage, which was a big security risk, Steve stationed three of his men in front of it to guard the entrance.

Once there, Jack and Abby sat at the kitchen table and stared at each other in silence. "I know I said I needed you to be my best friend instead of my boyfriend, but right now I want to jump in your lap and make out with you like there's no tomorrow," Abby finally said.

Jack grinned; both at the image that she put in his head and at the idea that she wanted him as a boyfriend again. "I don't think that would go over too well with certain people in the next room…certain people who have itchy trigger fingers right now."

Abby sighed, "I suppose you're right," she told him as they lapsed back into silence, both of them trying to process what had happened in the great room. Finally Abby stood up and got some water for both of them. "Tell me something Jack, tell me _anything_, because right now my mind is still debating shutting down and I _really_ don't want that to happen again," she told him as she set a glass of water down in front of him. As she did, Jack noticed that her hand shook, but he didn't say anything.

Instead, Jack got her caught up with the gossip from school and when that ran out, he dished the little bit of dirt he knew about the team. He told her that Kevin had tried contacting Garcia, even though they had broken up months ago after she'd caught him cheating. Apparently the computer nerd wanted to get back together with her and wouldn't take no for an answer until Derek paid him a visit and had a 'discussion' with him. The latest he'd heard was that Kevin had put in for a transfer to Idaho, while Derek had practically moved into Garcia's eclectic apartment.

"Speaking of practically moving in, Emily stayed overnight at our place three times last week," Jack told her and grinned when she cupped her hands over her mouth to cover the scream of both shock and happiness for her Uncle and friend.

"Oh. My. GOD!" She exclaimed, once her speech function returned. "That is _so_ awesome! At least I think it is," she said looking at him. "Are we happy about this, pissed off or indifferent?" She asked Jack.

He thought for a minute and then smiled, "We're happy," he said. "God knows dad's been alone long enough, and with me leaving next year, he needs someone else in his life. Besides, Emily's cool. She doesn't try to be all mom-like with me, yet she knows when I need to talk to someone. Besides, she got dad to let me go to Costa Rica over spring break, so that has to count for something, right?"

"Right," Abby said firmly as a pang of jealousy hit her. Jack was going to Costa Rica for an extra credit science trip and hearing about his trip made her think about their previously planned trip to Italy. Obviously with her mother's gunshot wound they couldn't go now, even if they hadn't been stuck at the cabin, but Abby wondered if she'd get to do anything fun over spring break. Just as she was about to really start feeling sorry for herself, Garcia breezed into the room.

"Good, I didn't think I'd get to talk to you alone," Penelope said, sitting down at the table. "Although you're not really alone, but I think this is the closest we'll get," she said as she pulled a large envelope out of her tote bag.

"What do you need to talk to me about, Pen?" Abby asked, somewhat confused. Shouldn't she be in the great room talking with all of the adults?

"Look what I found in my mailbox a few days ago!" Penelope sang as she handed Abby the large envelope. Abby took it and gasped, the envelope was from the University of California at Berkeley.

"Oh my God!" She whispered fiercely, not wanting her parents to hear her. "I got in! I never thought I'd get in!" She ripped open the envelope and pulled out the acceptance letter just to be sure.

"Congratulations, cupcake! I knew you could do it! Now, if you could keep it on the down low that I was the one who helped you apply, that would be great. I think if your father found out about my part in this, he would use me as a target in the firing range…your mother too." Garcia wanted to say more, but she heard her name called from the great room and she hurried back to the discussion.

Abby stuck the acceptance letter back into the envelope and hid the packet in one of her tote bags that was slung over the back of one of the kitchen chairs. She then looked at Jack and saw that he was looking at her in astonishment.

"You applied to a school in California?" He asked, amazed.

She nodded, "Yeah, I did it on a whim. Berkeley has a really good pre-law program and a part of me wants to try something new…but a part of me also wants to stay here. God Jack, I never thought I'd get into Berkeley, I never thought I'd have to make this decision, although I might not have to anyway."

"Why not?" Jack asked.

Abby sighed, "UC Berkeley is one of the most liberal colleges in the country, not to mention its three thousand miles away from home. I highly doubt my parents are going to let me attend, which is why I used Penelope's mailing address for my application, I didn't want them finding out that I was even applying. Jack, you can't tell _anyone _about this, not your dad, not Emily, _no one_, got it?"

He nodded, "Got it, but if you decide to go, your news might pale in comparison to mine."

"What news?" Abby asked, confused.

Jack took a deep breath, "I'm thinking about not going to college at all next year…I'm thinking about taking a year off."

Abby gasped, he was right, her news would definitely look better in comparison to his! At least she was still _going_ to college, albeit it might be one that's three thousand miles away, but still! She knew her uncle would totally flip out when he heard about Jack's plans. "What would you do next year?" She asked, wondering if he would just bum around his house. Yeah, like Uncle Aaron would let _that_ happen.

"I was thinking I would take the inheritance I got from my grandparents and travel around the country." When Jack was fourteen, his grandparents on his mother's side died in a car accident and they left him a sizeable inheritance, but he didn't gain control of it until he turned eighteen.

"If I travel frugally, you know, via bus and staying at hostels and stuff, I should still have enough money for college in two years. I figure I can also work at odd jobs in different cities to earn some of my travel money. What do you think?"

Abby was torn, part of her thought he was nuts for even _thinking _about doing something like that, but a bigger part of her thought it was a great idea. "I think you need to do what you need to do. If you think you need time to explore before college, then I support you, although I don't want to be within a hundred miles of your house when you tell your dad!"

He smiled, "Thanks Abs, and I'm only thinking about it right now; you'll be the first to know when I've decided anything."

She smiled, "Right back atcha."

xxxxxxxxxx

While the kids were pondering their futures in the kitchen, the adults were in the great room discussing the events of the night.

"From what we can tell," Steve said, "There were two shooters in elevated positions in the woods around your house. They never breeched the perimeter; instead they used high powered, sniper rifles to shoot at the house from afar."

"Agent Rossi, I don't think they were trying to kill anyone tonight, I think they were just trying to scare us," Reid said.

"What makes you say that, Spence?" JJ asked, still a bit shaken by the shooting.

"They kept firing even though the window didn't break. They had to know the glass was bulletproof, yet they kept shooting at it. I think they were doing it to send a message, to let you know that you are still in danger," Reid explained.

"I think he's right, Dave," Hotch told the older profiler.

"Well if they were doing this just to scare me, it worked. The first bullet struck the window right behind my daughter. If I had kept the original windows, then she could be…she might have…" He couldn't finish the sentence, but everyone in the room knew what he meant.

Clearing his throat, Dave continued, "This has to stop, Hotch," he told the unit chief. "I can't let them continue terrorizing my family."

"I know, Dave," he said, "Will's associate is still being held in New York. I'm going to have Morgan and Prentiss go back up there and take another crack at him. Maybe he'll give us something that will help us figure out where in the hell Suzette is hiding."

"I have alerts placed on all of her bank accounts, her cell phone and the GPS in her car," Garcia chimed in. "I'm sure she's probably using an alias, but if she so much as sneezes under her real name, I'll know where she is."

"Thanks Garcia," Dave said and then looked at his watch. "It's getting late, and I can tell Jen needs a pain pill, so you all should probably start heading out."

The team members all nodded and agreed and within minutes, Dave, JJ and Abby closed the door behind the last of their guests. Once they were alone, Dave looked at his daughter who seemed like she was on the verge of losing it again. "How're you doing, Pumpkin?" He asked cautiously.

She looked at him with huge eyes, "I'm okay, dad."

Neither of her parents bought her answer, and since she was closest, JJ came over and wrapped her arms around her daughter. She felt Abby stiffen at the initial touch, but she finally gave in and hugged her back. JJ felt her tremble as she held her.

"You're ice cold, honey," JJ said, recognizing the early symptoms of shock. "When we get upstairs, I want you to soak in the Jacuzzi for awhile, okay?"

Abby nodded and felt herself being led to the staircase. Once there, Dave was torn; did he carry his injured wife up the stairs or did he help his emotionally fragile daughter? Thankfully for him, Abby sensed his dilemma and made the choice for him.

"I'm okay dad, you help mom up the stairs." As she said it, Abby made her way up to the second floor and into her bedroom, where she changed into her swimsuit. Normally when she used her parent's Jacuzzi, she used it like a normal bathtub, but she knew that at least one, if not both of them would want to talk to her while she was in it tonight, and she was right.

As soon as she eased herself into the warm, bubbling water, there was a knock at the door. "Come in," she called out, letting the water warm her back up again.

"Can I stay keep you company?" JJ asked as she closed the lid to the toilet and sat down. The events of the night had shaken her and she wanted to be close to her daughter.

Abby nodded, not really wanting to be alone. "Didn't you take a pain pill? Won't you be passing out soon?"

"I'll be fine," JJ said as she tried to cover a big yawn with her hand. They were silent for a few minutes until Abby spoke again.

"When is this all going to end, mom?" She asked quietly.

"I don't know, honey, soon I hope," JJ answered truthfully.

"But what if it doesn't? What if this thing drags out for months, or even years?" There was a hint of panic in Abby's voice and JJ didn't know what to say to make things better.

"That's not going to happen, Pumpkin," a deep voice said from the doorway. Knowing that his daughter was in her swimsuit, Dave joined the two women in the large master bathroom. "We're going to catch her soon, Abby, I promise."

"You can't promise me that," Abby told him, "You have no idea when you'll find her."

"Yes I do, I know we have some of the best minds in the country searching for her and we _are_ going to catch her soon, okay?"

Abby didn't believe her father, but she nodded anyway. "Okay then, I'm going to help your mother to bed, since she looks as though she's about to pass out. Will you be all right by yourself in here?" He asked.

She nodded, "Yeah, I was just about to get out anyway."

Dave nodded and helped JJ up from her seat. As they walked to the bed in the master bedroom, JJ practically whispered, "I'm sorry, Dave. If I had listened to you and Steve, if we had cancelled the party then none of this would have happened."

"This isn't your fault, JJ, its Suzette's. There's no need for you to apologize," he told her as he helped her into bed. As he watched her drift off to sleep, he wondered if he would be able to keep the promise he just made to his daughter.

xxxxxxxxxx

**Calling all CM readers and authors! Join us for our first Profiler's Choice CM Awards on Fanfiction. net! Help us choose the best of the best of the CM stories on ff. net, and let your voice be heard. Anyone with a ff. net account is eligible to nominate. Please check out the nominating ballot and rules at Chit Chat on Author's Forum at http:/ forum. fanfiction. net/topic/74868/30888142/1/. All rules and information are on the forum.**


	51. Chapter 51

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 51

**~This chapter (and the next one) is pure fluff...I've been dealing with writer's block for a few days and I decided to write something fluffy to see if I could revive my muse.  
**

**~The next chapter is heavily outlined...enough reviews may motivate me to post it sooner than I normally would.**

* * *

Three days later, Dave was in the kitchen making a late breakfast for himself when Abby walked into the room. "Morning, Pumpkin," he said as he brought his bagel and coffee to the table. He was surprised to see her dressed because even though it was a Tuesday, she obviously wasn't going to school and for the past week she'd been lounging in her pj's until lunchtime.

"Morning dad, is mom around?" She asked as she poured herself some coffee.

"She's still in bed, she had a kind of a rough night last night," Dave told her as he took a bite of his breakfast.

"Rough night? Is she okay?" Abby asked in a high pitched voice. Her mother's health and recovery was a major concern of hers and she was afraid that something might happen to hinder it.

"She's fine; she just had some pain and nightmares that kept her awake. I finally convinced her to take her damn pain medicine at around four this morning and it zonked her out."

"Oh, okay," Abby said despondently, playing with the handle of her coffee mug.

Dave saw that Abby looked a little lost, "Is there something _I _can help you with?"

She was torn, her issue needed a somewhat immediate resolution but she _really_ didn't want to discuss it with her dad. She sighed as she sat down across the table from him.

"I need to run to Target for a few minutes," she told him, already knowing what his answer would be.

"What?" Dave asked, thinking she was joking.

"Either Target or CVS. It's really important, dad, and I'll only be gone for about twenty minutes," she pleaded.

Dave saw that she was serious and he wondered if she'd lost her mind. "No, absolutely not."

"But daaadd!" Even though she had known he was going to say no, it didn't stop Abby from arguing with him, even if it was in a whiny, teenage way.

"Are you crazy?" He asked her in disbelief, "We've been holed up here for the last week because there are people after us and you want to run to the store? There's no way in hell you're leaving this house!"

"Fine!" Abby said loudly, accepting her fate as she flopped back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. She and her father glared at each other for a minute until she finally looked away.

"What is so important that you would risk your safety for?" Now that they weren't arguing, his curiosity was getting the better of him, she had to know that he was going to say no, so now he wanted to know what she needed so badly.

"Nothing," she said softly.

"Abigail," Dave said in a tone Abby knew well. It was a tone that said, 'tell me what I want to know, because I'm not going to let this go.'

She took a deep breath, "IgotmyperiodtodayandIdon'thaveanysupplies."

She spoke so fast that Dave felt like he was at an auction. "I didn't understand a word you said. How about slowing it down for me," he told her.

She turned bright red and looked down at the table, "I got my period today and I'm out of supplies," she said softly, wishing there was a hole she could crawl into and die.

"Oh." Shit, he thought as he processed what she'd just told him, this was a real problem. "Does your mother have…anything you could use?" He asked hesitantly, not exactly sure how this kind of thing worked. He knew, from the limited exposure he'd had to this type of thing from his ex-wives, that women were loyal to their favorite brand of products, but surely they were somewhat interchangeable?

Still staring at the table, Abby shook her head, "No, mom's out too, we were both going to add them to the grocery list for next week."

"Hmmm," Dave said, thinking about the situation. A large part of him was considering letting her go. She was right, it would take her less than an hour and really? Were the hit men Suzette hired really going to stake out the local Target on the off chance that one of them might make an unscheduled visit there? As quickly as he had that thought, he discarded it. As was evidenced three nights previous, her henchmen were probably watching the house and if any of them attempted to leave it, they would almost surely be followed.

Well aware that his daughter was stewing in her own embarrassment, Dave tried to come up with a solution to her problem. He realized that so far he'd been pretty lucky in the 'girl stuff' department with her. Other than the horribly disturbing sex talk he'd been a part of a few months previous, he'd never really had to deal with anything like this before. He'd come into her life well after she'd had the 'my changing body' talk with her mother, so he hadn't been a part of that, thank God, and other than the occasional box of tampons that made its way into the cart when they were grocery shopping, he'd never really had to acknowledge this part of his daughter's life. Until today.

He took a deep breath and tried to get control over the situation at hand. He'd faced down some of the worst of humanity in his many years on the planet, surely he could deal with this current crisis, although he was sorely tempted to wake his wife up so she could deal with it. He had no doubt that she would come up with a magical solution that would end everyone's embarrassment. He contemplated that option for a moment and then shook his head, he would step up to the plate and deal with it, even though he had no idea what he was doing.

The first thing he needed to do was stay calm and collected. He didn't want to add this event to the growing pile of things that had scarred his daughter for life over the past three weeks. This was a perfectly natural thing to have happen and he would deal with it rationally…Christ, he really wished Jen was here for this.

Looking at his daughter, he realized that his silence was only making things worse, so he finally spoke up. Unfortunately, he blurted out the first thing that came into his mind. "How did you run out of supplies? I thought women had stockpiles of those kinds of things so you could avoid this type of situation."

Abby snapped her head up to glare at him, was he really blaming her for this? Last month, when she used her last tampon, was she really supposed to see this coming? God, what an asshole! Here she was, embarrassed beyond belief, wishing she the earth would open up and swallow her whole, and her dad was trying to make her feel bad for running out of supplies!

"Well gosh, dad," she said sarcastically, "You're right, I _should_ have seen this coming! As I stared at the empty box last month, I should have realized that this month I may be held hostage in my own house. I should have known that there was a possibility that I wouldn't be able to leave because hit men would be tracking my every move. How stupid of me!" Abby was still red in the face, but now it was because of both her embarrassment and her growing anger.

Dave realized that he might have said the wrong thing, based on her reaction, and he tried to backpedal. Regrettably, he ended up sticking his foot farther into his mouth. "Sorry Abby, I'm just surprised that _you _were taken by surprise at this. I thought knowing that particular date each month was some kind of religion with women." He scooted his chair away from hers as he saw her look change even more from embarrassment to anger. He wasn't sure what he'd said wrong, but he knew he was about to find out.

"I _am_ aware of that particular date each month, but the stress I've been under, combined with the weird sleeping schedule we had at the hospital, messed my cycle up! I'm sorry that this isn't convenient for you_,_" she said loudly. "I'm the one sitting over here with a headache and massive cramps, and I'm talking to my father about stuff he _never_ needed to know, not to mention I'm in desperate need of supplies with no way to get them, but I guess I should be feeling bad for _you _since this must be so difficult for _you_!" A few tears of frustration leaked out of her eyes at the end of her tirade, damn hormones! She looked at her father and saw the panicked look on his face and she huffed haughtily, she should have known better than to talk to him about this; he was a guy, he didn't understand what she was going through.

"Hey," Dave said defensively, "I'm doing my best here, Pumpkin! I've never had to deal with this before."

"You grew up with three sisters and you've had three other wives, how have you not had to handle something like this before?"

"_They_ all had large caches of supplies," he muttered and then saw the thunderous look on his daughter's face. "Okay," he said, before she could start yelling, "Write down what you need and I'll have Emily or Garcia bring it by later today."

Abby shook her head, "Emily's in New York and Pen is upgrading her computer system today, neither one of them will be able to come out here."

Dave sighed, "Then write down _exactly_ what you need and I'll have one of the guys run into town and pick up your supplies."

"No!" Abby protested, "God dad, that will be _so _embarrassing!"

"Well I don't know what else to do, Abby," he said frustrated, "Hotch is coming by later, do you want me to have _him_ stop?"

Abby pictured her cool and collected pseudo uncle standing in the middle of the feminine hygiene aisle in his crisp suit and tie and gave a snort of laughter. She would rather have an anonymous security guard run her errand than subject her uncle to that particular task.

"No, I'd rather have one of the guys go," she said as she reached for the magnetized pad of paper that hung on the refrigerator door. Her father handed her a pen and she wrote down precisely what she needed, including descriptions of the boxes. With a sigh, she capped the pen and handed it, and her list, back to him. "Make sure they get _precisely _what I wrote down," she told him.

He glanced at the paper and nodded, "I'm assuming time is of the essence for this?" Abby once again turned red with embarrassment and nodded. "Okay, I'll have someone go out right away."

"Thanks dad," she said, her face still flushed, "I'll be working on some homework in my bedroom." As she left the kitchen, she wondered if it was possible to actually die of embarrassment.

xxxxxxxxxx

**Calling all CM readers and authors! Join us for our first Profiler's Choice CM Awards on Fanfiction. net! Help us choose the best of the best of the CM stories on ff. net, and let your voice be heard. Anyone with a ff. net account is eligible to nominate. Please check out the nominating ballot and rules at Chit Chat on Author's Forum at http:/ forum. fanfiction. net/topic/74868/30888142/1/. All rules and information are on the forum.**


	52. Chapter 52

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 52

* * *

Two hours later, as Dave was meeting in the kitchen with Steve and Hotch, a red-faced Paul entered the room carrying a Target bag. The three men looked up when he set the bag in the middle of the table and saw he his flushed face. He went to the sink, poured himself a glass of water and drank it all in one long gulp.

"How'd it go?" Dave asked, with a twinkle in his eye. He knew the younger man had been traumatized by his excursion to the feminine hygiene aisle of the Target store, but he couldn't resist busting his balls a little.

Paul glared at him as he pulled out a chair and sat down at the table, "I want hazard pay for this! I had to go into aisle 8A. I _never_ go into that aisle, not even for my own wife!" He told them with a shudder. "Did you know all of the packaging for this stuff looks the same, but the products couldn't be more different! Some were super, some were thin and some had wings for Christ sake! Wings! What the hell is up with that?"

"Did you manage to get what she needed?" Dave asked, barely holding back his laughter.

The security guard nodded, "I finally asked a woman who was in the aisle if she could pick out what was on the list and put it in the cart. I swear, I am _never _doing that again!" He proclaimed as he pulled a carton of strawberry ice cream out of one of the bags. Dave took it from him and put it in the freezer before coming back to the table. He knew that Abby got cravings for ice cream during this particular time of the month.

The three men at the table laughed at the young guard, "Your wife just had a baby girl, didn't she Paul?" Steve asked and Paul nodded, "Then get used to doing stuff like this, because my daughter sends me on tasks like this all the time." Paul paled and got another glass of water before sitting back down.

"Okay, so getting back to the security discussion, based on some of the emails we've intercepted from your account, we want to put a guy at your mother's house and each of your siblings houses," Steve told Dave, who instantly went on alert.

"Why? Have there been threats made against them? Are they in danger from Suzette?" He asked, panicked. How many more of his family members were going to have to pay for his mistakes?

"There's nothing specific, but there have been indirect references to other members of your family."

"Fine, I don't care what it costs, but I want their houses secure and I want all of them safe," Dave ordered.

Steve nodded, "I've started the preliminary work already, but we can't seem to get in touch with your sister Rachelle. Do you have a number for her?"

"I do," Dave replied, "But it won't do you any good. Last time I heard, she was doing humanitarian work in Bosnia. It's ironic, but the sister who is in a war zone might be the safest of my siblings."

Seeing the despondent look on his friend's face, Hotch said, "We're going to catch her Dave, and soon. Derek and Emily are in New York right now talking to Will's accomplice and I'm optimistic they'll get some useful information out of him. Plus, Garcia barely leaves her lair because she's so focused on getting Suzette and you know that no one can hide from her for long, alias or not."

"True," Dave said ruefully. "But Hotch, I don't want her getting sick; make sure she leaves her office every once in a while, okay?"

"Don't worry, I make her leave every couple of days, although she usually puts up one hell of a fight. Yesterday she threatened _Jack's_ future electronic well-being for making her leave!"

Dave grinned as Steve asked if there was anything else security related that they needed to discuss. Paul spoke up again at this point.

"Agent Rossi, as you know I'm your daughter's point person and that means when I'm out on patrol around the property, I pay special attention to the parts of your house that Abigail frequents the most."

"Uh huh," Dave said, not quite sure where the man was going with his train of thought.

"Anyway, I've pulled night duty the last few nights, and each night Abigail's bedroom light has gone on at around two in the morning and it stays on for the rest of the night. I don't think she's sleeping, sir." Paul told him.

"Dammit!" Dave exclaimed as he slammed his hand down on the table, "It's her goddamn nightmares! I knew she was having some, but she assured me they weren't too bad. That explains why she's been looking like shit again, she hasn't been going back to sleep afterwards!"

Hotch nodded in agreement, "I know from the times she stayed at my place that she can be very quiet during some of her nightmares.

Dave sighed, "Is that it guys?" Everyone at the table nodded and Dave stood up, "Then if you'll excuse me, I'm about to go have another uncomfortable conversation with my daughter," he said as he grabbed the Target bag from the table and made his way towards Abby's room.

Once he got to the top of the stairs, he first stuck his head into the master bedroom and checked on his wife, who was still sound asleep. Then he crossed the hallway and knocked on his daughter's door.

Abby, who was sitting on her bed reading a book for her English class, heard the knock on the door and gave a little groan; she had been dreading this moment. The first part of her morning had been beyond embarrassing and she didn't expect this part to be any better.

"Come in, dad," she called out, her cheeks already beginning to flush.

Dave opened the door, stepped inside and then came over and sat down on the edge of her bed. He handed the bag to her and said, "Here you go, honey. Why don't you check everything over and make sure Paul got the right stuff."

Abby turned bright red as she stuck her head in the bag, "Everything looks fine, dad. Awww, you had him get me some peanut butter cookies," she said, touched by his thoughtfulness. She pulled the package out and tore into them. After taking a few, she held the bag out to her father who also took one. "I really shouldn't," he said as he took a bite.

Abby nodded, "Neither should I," she said as she finished the first cookie and bit into the second.

Dave was confused, "Why shouldn't you?" He asked, "You're in perfect shape."

Abby snorted, "Yeah right, dad. I haven't been swimming in over three weeks and I haven't worked out in over two. If I keep eating all of our yummy cooking here, I'm not going to be able to fit through the schoolhouse doors once I'm finally able to go back," she told him as she leaned back against her pillows and headboard. Dave didn't miss the wince on her face as she did so.

"Cramps?" He asked, seeing the look of pain on her face.

"What? No!" Abby exclaimed, not wanting to have that type of conversation with him, now or ever. As she took another bite of her cookie, she began to feel bad for snapping at her dad, so she decided to explain. "I have a headache and cramps and I have to choose which medicine I take, I can't take them both at the same time, and my cramps were worse today, so I took my ibuprofen and as a result, my head is killing me."

Dave shook his head in sympathy, "Jeez honey, that sounds awful; I had no idea you went through this every month."

"Yeah, well, I've kind of gotten used to it."

They sat in silence for a moment before Dave spoke again, "We need to talk, Abby."

"About this?" She asked, turning even redder. "I appreciate what you did for me, dad, but we _really_ don't need to talk about this anymore. As it is, I feel like I'm living one of those 'my most embarrassing story' columns that I read in some of my magazines."

"Why would people voluntarily share their most embarrassing stories?" Dave wondered aloud; he would never understand women, especially teenage women.

"So when something embarrassing happens to you, you know it could be worse, although I can't imagine anything worse than today," she told him. "Besides, mom had the 'becoming a woman' talk with me when I was twelve years old and, no offense, I really don't need a refresher from you."

'Thank God!' Dave thought. "Well that's good, because I wouldn't have any idea what to say to you. No, I want to talk to you about your nightmares."

"What about them?" Abby asked, fidgeting a little.

"Why didn't you tell me they were as bad as they are?" Dave asked her.

"What do you mean? They're not too bad," she said, not meeting his eye.

It was her lack of eye contact, along with her picking at her cuticles, which proved to Dave that she was lying about the severity of her nightmares. "The guys told me that your light is usually goes on at around two in the morning and it doesn't get turned off, which means they're pretty goddamned bad. Plus, it doesn't take a profiler to see that you're lying, Pumpkin. Why didn't you tell me?" He repeated.

Abby sighed, she knew she was busted, "What good would it have done? Yeah, my nightmares are bad, but you worrying about me isn't going to help them. You have your hands full taking care of mom; I can handle my own problems."

"No, you can't Abby, not if you're not sleeping!" Dave was torn, he needed to care for his recovering wife at night, but he also needed to tend to his daughter's needs. Short of staying up all night, he didn't know how he was supposed to do both. "The next time you have a nightmare and you're scared, come into our room and you can finish out the night with us." If Dave had his way she wouldn't even start out the night in her own room, she would stay with them the entire time. He was nervous about the threats against them and he would love to have both of his girls within arm's reach of him at night.

Abby shook her head, "I can't do that, dad. I'm seventeen, not seven and I shouldn't have to come running into my parent's bedroom at night."

"This isn't about age, Abby, it's about fear. You've seen and been on the receiving end of some pretty horrible things lately and it's only natural for you to have nightmares and to be frightened. I just want you to know that you can always come into our room, we'll never think that you're acting like a baby or that you should just suck it up and get over it, okay?"

"Okay," she said softly, looking at her bedspread.

"Plus, having you nearby makes your mother and I feel better too. You're not the only one who has nightmares and gets scared," he told her and she snapped her head up to look at him.

"Really?" She asked.

Dave nodded, "Are you kidding? I wake up in a cold sweat almost every night, and your mother does too. It's normal for something like this."

A tear leaked from the corner of her eye, "I feel like such a baby," she admitted. "I keep thinking I should be getting over everything by now."

Dave pulled her into her arms, "You're not a baby and you need to work through what's happened to you. Once we can leave the house again, I want you to talk to a psychologist. I think you're going to need some help dealing with everything."

Abby really didn't want to talk to a shrink, but she knew now was not the time to argue about it, so she just nodded into her father's chest. "Okay dad."

"I also want you to know that you can talk to me about _anything_, even girl stuff. I know today's been embarrassing for you, and it hasn't exactly been a day at the park for me, but it didn't kill us, right?"

She pulled out of his embrace and gave him a smile, "No, it didn't kill us, but I think I'll still go to mom with these issues."

'Praise the Lord,' Dave thought, but of course he didn't verbalize it, "That's fine, honey. Now why don't you see if a hot shower will help your headache?"

"That's a good idea," she said as she grabbed the Target bag and hopped off of her bed. Before she moved towards the bathroom, she leaned down and gave Dave a peck on the cheek, "Thanks dad," she said softly and then walked the few steps to her bathroom.

Dave just shook his head and got up from the bed. As he left Abby's room, he had a smile on his face as he realized that they had gotten through another crisis relatively unscathed.


	53. Chapter 53

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 52

* * *

Two days later, just as she was about to shut her laptop, Abby's computer dinged to let her know she had a new email. Because she needed to stay in contact with her teachers, her dad hadn't restricted her school email account and it was her only portal of communication with the outside world. Unfortunately, she didn't use this email address much with her friends and not many of them had thought to contact her via this account. She had tried contacting them, via their school email addresses but, like her, they didn't use their school accounts much either.

Perking up, Abby opened the email and saw it was from one of her acquaintances, Taylor Day. Taylor was her only A-list friend and the only reason they were friends was because she'd helped the popular girl pass biology the previous year. As she read the email, she felt her stomach drop in disappointment. Taylor was having a party to kick off the start of Spring Break and she'd invited the entire senior class. While it was an en masse invitation, she'd included a personal note at the bottom saying that she hoped Abby could make it. With a sigh of disappointment, Abby responded back to the email with her regrets.

She was surprised when less than a minute later, her email dinged again. It was a reply from Taylor telling her that she _had _to come, that no one had seen her for three weeks and everyone missed her. She told her it was going to be THE party of the year and she had to be there, she wouldn't take no for an answer.

Abby thought for a minute and replied back that she would try and make it to the party, although privately she didn't see how that was going to happen. Once she shut her laptop, she began thinking about it and she wondered if maybe, just _maybe_ her dad would make an exception and let her go out on Saturday night. She knew it would be taking a risk, but she hadn't asked for much since their confinement had begun and hell, even the President's kids got to go out every once in awhile and surely there were more threats against them than there were her. Despite herself, she began to get her hopes up as she left her bedroom and made her way to the first floor.

Once on the lower level, Abby sought out her mother. She knew she didn't have a chance in hell of getting out of the cabin on Saturday if her mother wasn't on her side, so she hoped she could talk her into it and then present a united front to her father. She peeked her head into the great room and saw her mother was in there alone, reading a book.

'Bonus!' Abby thought as she quietly entered the room. She would have a chance to talk to her mom alone without her father's input.

"Hey mom," she said as she sat down in an easy chair across from her mother. "Got a minute?"

JJ put a bookmark between the pages of her book and closed it. "For you I have two. What's up?" She asked, seeing the nervous look on her daughter's face.

Abby took a deep breath, "So I was invited to a big party on Saturday night, it's kind of a beginning of Spring Break party and everyone's going to be there and I really, really, REALLY want to go!"

JJ could barely understand her request because she spoke so quickly, but once her brain made the connection, she sadly shook her head. "Abby, you can't," she told her, hating to be the one who told her no.

"But mom-"

"I'm sorry honey, but it's too risky. What if they're still out there watching us? They could follow you and hurt you once you were away from the house." JJ said as horrible pictures flashed through her mind.

"I'm not asking to go alone; what if I take a couple of the security guys with me? They could drive me there and secure the place before I go in. Heck, I'd even keep one of the guys with me at the party as a bodyguard." Seeing that her mother was actually pondering the idea, Abby continued, "I'm not asking for the whole night, I just want to go for a couple of hours."

"I don't know, Abby," JJ said, considering her idea. If she took a security detail with her, it might actually be safe, although there was always a chance of an attack against her and the security guards.

"Please mom," Abby said softly, "I haven't seen my friends in over three weeks and I haven't been out of this house in over two. I just want to have a normal night out."

Seeing the desperation in her daughter's eyes, JJ finally nodded, "Why don't we talk to your dad and see what he has to say about it?"

"Talk to me about what?" A deep voice asked from the doorway.

The two women jumped at the sound of his voice, "David, you scared us," JJ told him as he walked into the room and sat down next to her on the sofa.

"Sorry honey," he said, pressing a kiss to her temple. "What do you need to talk to me about?" He asked, looking from his wife to his daughter.

"Okay dad, I'm about to ask you for something HUGE, and I'm asking that you hear me out before you make up your mind, okay?" Abby asked anxiously.

"Okay," Dave responded apprehensively. With that kind of build-up, he knew he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear.

Abby took a deep breath but found she was too nervous to speak, so she looked imploringly at her mother. Thankfully JJ took the hint and turned towards her husband, "It seems our daughter was invited to a big party on Saturday night and she would like to go to it."

Seeing her dad open his mouth to speak, Abby beat him to the punch. "It's just one night, dad, and I told mom I'd take a couple of security guys with me. I would only go for a couple of hours and I would stick with my security detail the entire time and I _really _want to go!" She said, practically begging him.

"Absolutely not!" Dave declared, once his daughter was done speaking.

"But dad-"

"No buts, Abby, its way too dangerous. They could come after you, not to mention that if you take a couple of guys with you, it will leave us short here. I'm sorry but I can't let you go," he said, shooting an annoyed look at his wife.

"I've lived by all of your rules, dad," Abby said softly, "For the last two weeks I haven't gone outside, I haven't given the guards any problems, I've cooked and cleaned and I've done pretty much everything you've asked me to, and I've done most of it without complaining. All I'm asking for is _one _night, one night to see my friends, one night to have some fun…one night to feel normal and happy again."

Dave shook his head, "I can't, Pumpkin," he said gently. "I know you've been great throughout this and it's not about punishing you, it's about your safety."

"Well it sure as hell _feels _like a punishment!" She yelled as tears of anger and disappointment streamed down her face. "I can't use my phone, I can't talk to my friends, I can't check my email, I can't go on facebook, I can't leave this house for a fucking _second_, and I can't do anything else that I normally do! I feel like a goddamn prisoner, and you're my warden!" She jumped up from her seat and ran up the stairs. A moment later, the loud slam of her bedroom door could be heard throughout the cabin.

Dave ran a tired hand down his face, "Thanks for that, Jen," he said angrily, "Thanks for making me the bad guy."

"I'm sorry, Dave," she said sharply, "I thought her request was a reasonable one. She only wanted to go for an hour or two and she agreed to take a security escort. I didn't, and still don't see why you won't let her go!"

"It wasn't a reasonable request, dammit! Suzette is stepping up her game, she's targeting other family members and if she'll do that, then God knows what she would have her henchmen do if Abby went out into the open!" Dave shouted.

"Well how in the hell was I supposed to know that? Jesus Dave, you keep me out of the loop as much as you do Abby!" JJ yelled back, "I'm as much of a prisoner here as she is, maybe more since I you won't permit me to move around as freely as you do her!"

Goddammit, that was twice in five minutes that he was accused of holding his loved ones prisoner and it didn't sit well with him. "You are NOT a prisoner here and neither is Abby! I'm doing what I have to in order to keep you both safe! Hell, not just safe but _alive_ and all I'm getting for my trouble are complaints and accusations! If you have a better idea of how to keep us all alive, please tell me!" He was out of breath by the end of his tirade. On some level, he was aware that he was bellowing at his recuperating wife, but his brain and his mouth were not connected at that particular moment.

JJ opened her mouth to shout a retort back at her husband, but she suddenly closed it. She knew he was right, he was only doing what he had to in order to keep all of them safe and alive. Was he heavy-handed about it? Yes, but she knew that was the way he operated when he was terrified and she knew his worst fear was not being able to protect her and Abby.

"You're right, Dave," she said, her voice back to a conversational volume. "You're trying to protect us and keep us safe, but you have to start letting me into the loop. I know you don't want me to worry, but I worry more when I don't know what's going on."

Dave let out a breath, "I'm sorry too, Jen, I shouldn't have yelled at you like that, but I don't tell you everything because I don't want the stress to hinder your recovery. I can shoulder this burden by myself, you focus on getting better," he told her, putting his arm around her. He felt her shake her head against his shoulder.

"No Dave, you don't get to decide what I know and what I don't know. I am recuperating, but I am _not_ a child and I won't let you keep treating me like one. You have to promise that you'll tell me everything as you learn it."

He gave a sigh of defeat, "Fine Jen, I promise I won't purposely keep anything from you, okay?"

She didn't like the 'purposely' part of the agreement, but she knew it was the best she would get from him, "Okay," she agreed. "Is there anything else you've been keeping from me?"

"Well, this isn't really important news, but in their interrogation of Will's accomplice, Derek and Emily discovered what triggered Suzette to start all of this," he told her.

"Really?" JJ asked, turning to face him, "What was it?"

"It happened during our trip to Philadelphia. Remember how when she ambushed us in the restaurant and I finally took her outside to talk to her?" JJ nodded. "When we were outside, I threatened her alimony if she ever came near you or Abby again. Apparently that's what set this whole clusterfuck in motion."

"Jesus," JJ said, shocked. "She really _is_ crazy, isn't she?"

Dave nodded, "I wish to Christ we hadn't gone to Philadelphia! If we had just gone somewhere else, then none of this would have ever happened," he said as he sank back into the sofa and pulled his wife with him. They sat there in a contemplative silence for the next half-hour. What they didn't see was their daughter standing behind them.

While JJ and Dave had been arguing, Abby had been seething in her bedroom. All she wanted to do was go to one little party, was that _really_ too much to ask? As she heard her parents fighting, she wore a grim smile; she hoped her mother was giving it to her father good! As time went by though, Abby began to feel bad about what she'd shouted at her dad. She knew this wasn't his fault and he was trying to make the best of the situation. Hell, he couldn't help it if he was the most overprotective person on the planet; she kinda knew that before he'd even married her mother! She finally decided to go downstairs and apologize to him.

As she made her way down the stairs, she heard her parent's voices lower and she stood just out of sight and eavesdropped. She heard her father tell her mother about the threat he made to Suzette while they were in Philly and she heard him say that if they had gone somewhere else, they wouldn't be in the mess they were currently in. As he said that, Abby put her hands over her mouth and quietly scurried up the stairs.

Once she was back in her bedroom, she closed the door and let out the anguished sob she had been holding back. It was _her _idea to go to Philadelphia! Both of her parents wanted to go to New York, but she'd insisted on Philly! This was all her fault! If she hadn't been such a baby about going back to New York, then none of this would have happened!

As the tears coursed down her face, she came to a decision; she knew what she had to do.


	54. Chapter 54

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 54

**~Thanks for all of the reviews for the last chapter! I don't have time to thank everyone personally, but I appreciate them!**

* * *

At around eleven o'clock on Saturday morning, Dave raised his hand to knock on his daughter's bedroom door, but found himself hesitating. For the last few days, ever since their blowout over the party, Abby had not been herself. It wasn't as though she was mad at them, although Dave suspected that deep down she was, she was just being aloof and standoffish. It was making a difficult situation even worse and he hoped she would snap out of it soon.

He knew he shouldn't be surprised that she'd finally snapped; she was a teenager who was being denied her freedom, of course she was going to see it as a punishment, that's why he didn't come down on her for using the f-word during their argument. She was a good kid and she didn't deserve what was happening to her…to all of them, and he knew it had been her fear and frustration talking during her outburst. As he stared at her door he prayed they would get their normally happy and bubbly daughter back once this was all over. He knew it wouldn't be an easy task and he also knew she would fight him on getting counseling, but it was a battle she would lose.

While he understood it had been her frustration talking during their argument on Thursday, Dave wished that Abby could see his side of it. He'd wanted to say yes, but he was deeply worried about her safety and he knew she would be a giant target, even if she did have a security detail with her. A few hours after she'd stormed up to her bedroom, he'd talked to Steve about the party, about sending a security escort with her and Steve had also thought it was a bad idea. He listed all of the things that could go wrong while she was out and he even went upstairs to talk to Abby, but she'd tuned him out, just like she'd been doing to everyone else for the past few days. Seeing her so miserable made him feel horrible. He knew that if he had just held his tongue, if he'd just escorted Suzette out of the restaurant and had put her in a cab without saying a word in Philadelphia, then none of this would have happened. But no, once again he'd let his anger take over his mouth and he'd lashed out and this was the result.

Dave shook his head as if to clear it, took a deep breath, knocked on her bedroom door and got no answer. He frowned, knocked again and still received no answer. Thinking she might have her headphones on, he knocked louder, opened the door and found her room empty. "Pumpkin?" He called out, thinking she might be in the bathroom. Nothing. Fully coming into her room, he saw that her bathroom door was open and she was nowhere to be found. Huh, he hadn't seen her on the first floor of the cabin, but maybe she'd come down and holed up in the study.

Shaking his head, he made his way to the first floor. She normally at least bid him and JJ good morning, even if she was pissed at them but she hadn't even done that today. He pushed open the door to the study and found it empty. Beginning to panic a little, he went into the great room and found his wife curled up on a couch watching some romantic movie on HBO.

"Have you seen Abby this morning?" He asked her, trying to keep his tone even.

She shook her head, "No, I thought she was in her room, sleeping in.

"That's what I thought too but she's not there and she's not in the study," he told her.

"Well she has to be _somewhere_," JJ said, turning off the TV. For the next ten minutes, they searched the cabin from top to bottom before finally realizing that Abby wasn't there.

"Where is she, Dave?" JJ asked in a panic, not wanting to ask what they were both thinking. Was it possible one of Suzette's henchmen had snuck in during the night and taken her?

"I don't know Jen, but we're going to find her," Dave said with more confidence than he felt. "You call the team and I'll call Steve and have him meet me up in Abby's room." He took the steps two at a time as he made his way up to his daughter's bedroom.

"Steve!" He barked into the phone as he stepped into his daughter's bedroom, "We have a situation, meet me in Abby's room now!" He didn't wait for a response before slamming his phone shut.

Not wanting to disturb anything in case, god forbid, they needed to get fingerprints, Dave glanced around her room. He had been in there hundreds of times before but it was usually in her presence and he was focused on talking to her, not taking in the scenery. While he waited for Steve, he looked at the framed pictures on her walls and smiled; most of them were from family vacations and he recognized the locales. As he reminisced, he heard the loud footsteps that announced Steve and Paul's presence.

"What's the matter Dave?" Steve asked.

"Abby's gone," Dave replied as fear began taking over. He'd been strong for JJ because he knew he had to be, but now that he didn't have to protect her, he could feel the abject terror taking over his mind.

"That's not possible!" Steve told him and Paul nodded. "We have security so tight around here that a mosquito couldn't fart without our knowing about it!"

"She's not in the cabin Steve, Jen and I have gone over every nook and cranny."

"Maybe she's purposely hiding," Steve suggested, not wanting to even think about someone taking one of his protectee's right out from under his nose. "Maybe she moved to different parts of the cabin while you and JJ were looking? Is it possible she's trying to scare you?"

"She's not five years old, Steve!" Dave said, "And no matter how pissed she got, she wouldn't-"

"Uh, guys?" Paul interrupted and the two alpha men looked at him. Paul held up a rope ladder that was under the open window. "I found this on the floor."

Dave's heart sank, who ever had come in to her room had taken her with the very ladder he'd bought her. It was a flimsy emergency ladder designed to be used as a fire escape. Abby had one in her room just like he and JJ had one in theirs. "This isn't happening," he moaned.

Steve was about to respond to Dave when he spied something on the desk. Crossing the room in two large strides, he picked up the envelope, looked it over and handed it to Dave. "I think this is for you."

Dave took the envelope and saw that it said "Mom and Dad" on the front of it and it had been written in his daughter's swirly, cursive handwriting. He opened it and began reading.

_Dear Mom and Dad,_

_If you're reading this, it means I made it out of the house. I haven't been kidnapped or anything like that, I just needed to get out for the day. I tried telling you that during our discussion on Thursday, but you wouldn't listen to me. _

_I need one day to feel normal, I need one day to be terror free, I need one day where I don't feel like a prisoner. I know you're going to be angry with me and worried, but __please__ don't come looking for me, let me have this one day to myself. I promise I will be home by midnight and you can yell and scream at me then. Please, just let me be a normal kid today. _

_Love, _

_Abby_

"I'm going to kill her," Dave growled, once he finished reading the letter.

xxxxxxxxxx

**_Four hours earlier…_**

Abby was awakened by the rude ringing of her alarm clock. Not used to waking up to it and not used to having it jammed under her pillow to drown out the noise, Abby groaned and almost flung it across the room before she remembered why she had set it. Today was her day of freedom! Well maybe, if she could sneak past the security guys who were guarding the house, and if she wasn't stopped by a psycho hit man waiting in the woods near the cabin.

As she packed her duffel bag for the coming day, she thought back to her two days of planning. Once she'd heard her parents discussing the events that occurred in Philadelphia, Abby had returned to her bedroom feeling horribly guilty. If she had just agreed to go to New York for the famiversary, then none of this would have happened. She was basically responsible for both of her parents getting shot, her mother almost dying, her and her father almost dying at Will's hand and she felt responsible for the predicament they were currently in. She knew that it had to end, that someone had to force a showdown between her family and Suzette and her henchmen and she'd decided to take that task on herself. She figured at worst, once she snuck outside, the hit men would kill her from afar, although she didn't think that would happen, she believed they would want to use her to hurt her father so she thought the chances of her dying right away were slim to none. What it boiled down to was that she wasn't thinking clearly. The fear, isolation, concern over her mother, lack of sleep and now guilt had clouded her judgment so badly that she was doing something she _never_ would have done under normal circumstances.

As she zipped up her bag, she thought the best that could happen was that Suzette would come out of hiding and make a play for her, but she'd be caught by the local PD before she could do anything and her nightmare would be over. Sighing as she set the bag down by the window, she hoped that she would just be able to make it out of the cabin and to her friend's car that was waiting on the main highway. She wanted _one_ day where she could walk around and feel normal, just one.

She set the letter to her parents down on her desk and grabbed the emergency rope ladder from the closet. She then stationed herself near her open window and waited. Because she hadn't been sleeping much, she'd been awake at this time of the morning for most of the time they'd been stuck here. Pining for her freedom, she usually sat on the bench seat under her window and watched the outside world in the forest. Because she had watched for so many mornings, she'd unconsciously learned the security team's routines and she knew that between 730am-800am there were fewer guards on the property, since that's when Steve usually came on duty and briefed most of the guards. Because of the lack of guards, Abby had noticed some gaping holes in the perimeter and she was hoping to gain her freedom, if only for a day, through one of those holes.

She saw many of the guards move towards the house and she knew it was time to make her move. She slung her duffel bag over her shoulder, attached the ladder to the window frame and quickly climbed down. She didn't want her absence to be discovered for as long as possible, so when she got to the ground, she tossed the ladder back up through her window and then started towards the woods at the back of the house. Part of her expected to be stopped either by one of the security guys or one of Suzette's guys, but it didn't happen and she made it to the forest. Thankfully she knew the woods like the back of her hand, so it was fairly easy for her to stay out of sight as she trekked the mile and a half to the main highway. Once there, she saw her friend Jordan's car waiting on the shoulder of the road and quickly approached it.

Opening the door, she threw her bag in the back seat and hopped in the front. "Abby!" Her friend squealed, giving her a hug, "I haven't seen you in forever!"

"I missed you too, Jordan," Abby said with a smile as she pulled out of the hug, "But any minute, they're going to discover I'm gone, so can we get moving?"

"Sure, sure," Jordan said, putting the car into drive. Without a backwards glance, the two girls sped towards the city.

xxxxxxxxxx

**_Current time..._**

Less than an hour after Dave and JJ discovered their daughter missing, Hotch, Derek and Garcia were assembled in the cabin, along with Steve and Paul.

"I'm telling you Steve, I want a goddamn army out looking for her!" Dave bellowed. He couldn't believe Abby thought they actually wouldn't look for her just because she asked. Did she know him at all?

"And I'm telling _you_ Dave, we don't want to make it look like anything is wrong here. If there are still guys in the woods, I don't want to clue them in that Abby's missing, I want them to think she's safe and sound right here," Steve said emphatically and Hotch nodded his agreement.

"How did she get past your guys?" JJ accused.

"I don't know JJ, but I can assure you I'm going to address that topic just as soon as Abby is back safe," Steve told her, chagrinned.

"But what if one of the guys got her? What if she's lying dead in the woods somewhere? What if she's tied up in a cargo shack somewhere? We have _no _idea if she's safe!" JJ wailed.

At that moment, Dave's cell phone rang. Not recognizing the number, he picked up and barked, "Rossi!"

"Mr. Rossi? This is Rebecca…you know, Abby's friend?"

Dave hit the speaker button and set the phone down on the table, "Rebecca, thank god! Is Abby with you?" Rebecca Butler was one of Abby's closest friends, besides Jack, and Dave had met the girl many times. She was a good kid and she and Abby made a great pair.

"No sir she's not, I'm in South Dakota right now visiting my grandparents but she _did_ call me and she asked me to call _you_ to let you know she's okay," the teen said.

JJ breathed a sigh of relief as Dave asked, "Do you know where she is?"

He could almost hear the girl shaking her head, "No sir, she purposely didn't tell me because she knew I'd tell you."

"Rebecca, I'm fairly sure Abby is planning on going to a party tonight that her friend Taylor is throwing. Do you know where it is?" JJ asked.

"I'm sorry, I don't JJ. Taylor was worried about a preemptive bust by police or parents, so it's one of those where the RSVP'd guests don't find out where it is until an hour beforehand," Rebecca said regretfully.

"Okay hon, it was worth a try. Please call us if Abby contacts you again!" JJ requested.

"I will JJ," Rebecca said and then disconnected the call.

Once the call was over, Dave looked at Garcia who had been frantically typing away the entire time. "What she says checks out, sir," she told him. "Her signal came from a tower outside of Colome, South Dakota. While Rebecca was speaking, I checked her incoming call log and it seems she received a call from a payphone at Union Station."

"So we know she's in the city," Dave said. That didn't narrow it down much.

"I can also tell you that she made a two-hundred dollar cash withdrawal from an ATM there."

"Dammit, she's going off the grid!" JJ exclaimed and Garcia nodded.

"Unfortunately, she's learned a lot from me over the past few years and she knows how to hide when she wants to," Penelope told them.

"Then I guess we wait until we find out where that goddamned party will be tonight," Dave said angrily, admitting a partial defeat.


	55. Chapter 55

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 55

* * *

'This is glorious!' Abby thought as she leaned back on the picnic blanket that she and her friends had set up on the National Mall. The day had been perfect, both weather wise and activity wise. As soon as she and Jordan had hit the city limits, they tried to decide what to do. Abby knew that once her parents realized she was missing, and why, they would send the security guys and probably the BAU team members to her favorite hangouts in the city despite her plea to let her have this day, so they couldn't go to any of their normal places.

They finally decided to take a chance and go to Eastern Market, which they both loved, and then they hit a mall in Maryland before they came back to DC to hook up with some other friends of theirs in the afternoon. Once they met up with their friends, they decided not to waste the gorgeous day and chose to have a picnic. Her friend Denise brought a cooler filled with sandwiches and sodas, while Jason and Matt brought the blanket and a Frisbee. At first Abby was worried when they decided to picnic at the Mall; since it was such an open area, she feared that any of the security guys or team would be able to easily find her, but it was such a gorgeous day and the Mall was fairly crowded so she decided to take the chance.

Not only was she worried about her parents finding her, she was also worried about one of Suzette's guys, or even Suzette herself finding her. She knew she started out not caring if she was taken by them, as she realized it was the least she could do for her parents since it was her fault they were in this mess, but after getting out of the house and clearing her head she realized she _really _didn't want to be caught…by anyone. A part of her kept expecting to be attacked and she prayed she would make it through the day safely.

Although, she realized, Suzette and her henchmen would be the least of her worries once she got home; in fact she might _prefer_ her father's psycho ex-wife over her parents. She knew they were going to be pissed…no, pissed wasn't the right word, she knew they were going to be beyond livid when she got home. She wasn't sure what they could do to her to punish her, since she was already restricted to the house and they had her phone, but she knew if anyone could come up with a worse punishment, it would be her parents. She hoped they would at least listen to her before they killed her, but she doubted that would happen. No, she knew she was going to be dead meat as soon as she walked in the front door. She prayed that the phone call she'd had Becca make to her parents would calm them down somewhat, but she knew that was wishful thinking on her part.

She shook her head to get rid of some of the depressing thoughts that were floating around in her head; she was outside in beautiful weather and God only knew when she'd get back outside again. No, she wouldn't think about anything scary out here, she would have fun with her friends and take advantage of her little bit of freedom. She lay down fully on the blanket and Denise and Jordan followed suit. Abby could feel her body soak up the sunshine it had long since been denied. Her peacefulness was soon ruined by a Frisbee landing on her stomach.

"Sorry Abby," Jason called as Abby sat up. She smiled and tossed it back to him. Her friends had all wondered where she had been and she'd given them the abbreviated version of her story. Of course they all knew that her parents had been shot, apparently that news had spread like wildfire throughout the school, but they didn't know everything that had happened to them and she preferred to keep it that way. She didn't want them treating her any differently than they had in the past because that would ruin her illusion of having a normal day.

"Want some chips?" Jordan asked her, passing her the bag from her prone position.

Abby, whose appetite had been revived, nodded and reached into the bag. While their picnic lunch had been fun, she really wanted to go to Five Guys for a burger but she assumed that Steve and her father had every location within a five mile radius under surveillance.

"What do you want to do now?" Jason asked, also lying down on the blanket.

"Can we just stay here for awhile?" Abby asked, "It's been awhile since I've just laid out in the sun."

"Sure Abby," Jordan said. "We'll stay here until around five-thirty and then we'll go back to my place and get ready for the party."

"Sounds good," Abby told her.

xxxxxxxxxx

While Abby was enjoying her day of freedom, her parents were going nuts back at the cabin.

"For the love of Christ, will you sit down?" Dave snapped at his wife. JJ turned from her pacing in the study and glared at him.

"I'm sorry if I'm a little worked up, Dave," she said sarcastically. "Our daughter is God knows where, doing God knows what, with God knows who after her. You're right; I should just lie down on the couch and take a nap."

As she passed by, Dave reached out and pulled her down next to him on the sofa. "You _should _take a nap since you're still recovering," he told her, "But I'll settle for just getting you off of your feet."

"She's been gone all day Dave and I'm worried about her," JJ said softly as she snuggled into her husband's side. "She's never done anything like this before; I knew we should have talked to her after our argument on Thursday."

"Hey," he said firmly as he wrapped his arm around her, "This isn't our fault, it's hers. She knew the score, she knew that we couldn't let her go because of the danger and she chose to leave anyway. Not just leave, but sneak out. When we find her she'll be lucky if _I_ don't kill her!"

"You're right, she knows how dangerous things are for us right now and I _am _mad at her, but right now I'm more worried than angry. I'm sure that will change once she's back here, safe and sound."

"I'm worried too Jen, but you need to relax, I don't want you making yourself sick over this," he told her, adding another reason for killing his daughter to his ever growing list.

They were currently relaxing, but their day had been anything but calm. As soon as they had hung up with Becca, Dave and Paul had searched Abby's room for clues as to where she had gone. JJ had argued with him over that, citing Abby's teenage need for privacy, but she'd backed down fairly quickly as her fear over their daughter's safety had trumped any embarrassment and anger she would feel when she returned home. They didn't find anything useful, so Dave had grabbed her laptop and gave it to Garcia to scour. When that also came up empty, Dave had yelled at everyone within shouting distance and had then retreated to the study, coming out only to curse at Steve for the holes in his security.

JJ and Dave sat in silence in the study for over an hour before Garcia's loud shout of triumph shattered their fragile peacefulness.

"I got the location of the party!" She yelled as she burst into the room. Hotch, Derek, Steve and Paul followed closely behind her.

Dave jumped up from the sofa, "Where is she?" He demanded.

"The party is being held at a house in Rosslyn. Apparently the hostess's grandmother lived there but recently moved into a care facility and, as a result, her house is sitting empty and therefore a perfect place to hold a 'kickass' party," Garcia told them as she handed Rossi the slip of paper that held the address.

"Rosslyn?" Dave repeated and then picked up his cell phone. He quickly dialed a number and waited.

"Gibbs," he heard as the other line picked up.

"Jethro, its Dave. I need a favor."

"How can I help?" Gibbs asked briskly. He'd heard what had happened to Dave and his family after the shootings and he wanted to ask him all about it, but he knew from Dave's tone that it wasn't the time for idle chit-chat.

Dave gave him the abbreviated version of the situation. "That address is fairly close to my house. Do you want me to go get her?" Gibbs asked, kind of looking forward to busting up a teenage party.

"No," Dave told him, "Just stake the place out until I get there. If she sees you, she might run, so I just want to make sure she stays put."

"No problem Dave, I'm on my way."

Dave felt marginally better as he snapped his cell phone shut, until he saw the expression on his wife's face. "What?" He asked.

"What do you mean 'until _you_ get there'? You're _not_ going!" JJ insisted and saw both Steve and Hotch nod in agreement.

"Honey, I want to make sure this is done right. She managed to get past the security team once before and I want to make sure that doesn't happen again," he said as he shot a glare towards Steve.

"Then I'm going with you!" JJ told him as she got up from the sofa. She made it about halfway to her feet before Dave gently pushed her back down.

"You're _not_ going, honey," Dave told her. "You've been out of the hospital for less than two weeks and you're in no shape for this kind of thing."

"I don't care! You're my husband and she's my daughter and you both are going to be out there! How can I just _sit _here and do nothing?" She asked in a panicked voice.

Dave sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms, "I'm going to make sure nothing happens to us," he reassured her as he whispered softly into her ear. "I'm going to bring our daughter back safe and sound."

JJ laughed shakily as she held back her tears, "Good, that way we can kill her here!"

Dave chuckled as he stood up and began barking orders. "Derek and Penelope, I need you to stay here with JJ while I go with Steve and Hotch to get my wayward daughter."

"Yes sir," Penelope responded.

"No problem Dave, just bring the kid home safe," Derek said.

"Dave-" Hotch began, but he was interrupted by his friend.

"I'm going Hotch," he said firmly. "I am _not_ going to wait around on the sidelines for this one."

"I was just going to suggest that we take my SUV. That way if anyone's watching, it'll look like I'm leaving for the night."

"Oh," Dave said, expecting more of an argument from his best friend. "Good idea."

"Paul, you're in charge of the team until I get back," Steve directed and Paul nodded in agreement.

The three men moved towards the door, but before he could leave the room, JJ was at her husband's side.

"You can't just burst into the party with your guns blazing, Dave," she told him. "I don't want to hear that you went in with a dozen of DC's finest."

Damn, how did she do that? That was exactly what Dave had been planning to do. "Why the hell not Jen? Don't tell me you're concerned about embarrassing her, because I gotta tell you, that's the _least_ of my concerns right now!"

"She still has to go to that school for a few more months and we've screwed it up enough for her, she doesn't need this added to it," JJ said. "You go in, you get her and you get out, all without making a scene. Got it?"

Dave thought about it for a moment and then finally nodded, "Got it."

"Good," she said as she stretched and gave him a passionate kiss. The kiss lasted quite awhile and by the time they finally pulled apart, most of the other people in the room were discreetly looking elsewhere. "Now go get our daughter," JJ ordered with an air of confidence she didn't feel.

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Forty-five minutes later, the SUV carrying the three men pulled up to a large house in an older section of Rosslyn. As they stepped out, Gibbs got out of his car and greeted them.

"So how are we doing this?" He asked, waving away the pleasantries offered by Steve and Hotch.

"You and Steve stay by the exits while Hotch and I go inside to get her. If she sees us first she might try ducking out."

Both Steve and Gibbs nodded and went to take their positions, while Hotch and Dave entered the house that was packed with teens.

As he entered the house, Dave was immediately bombarded by the smell of both beer and pot. Groaning, he prayed that Abby was neither drunk nor stoned as that would make it a lot harder for them to get her out of there.

The two men walked around for nearly five minutes before they spotted Abby dancing with some of her friends in the living room. Once he saw that she was safe, Dave's anger and frustration came rushing back at him as he quickly crossed the room.

Abby was having a great time at the party. Many of her school friends were there, and it was great to be around people again. While there was beer and pot at the party Abby didn't partake in that aspect, partly because she wasn't into drugs and partly because she knew that if she came home drunk, it would make a really bad situation even worse with her parents. After talking to a bunch of different people, she let Jordan and Denise lead her to the living room and she danced until she felt someone grasp her upper arm. Looking down, she immediately recognized the hand that was clamped around it. "Hi dad," she said, looking up at her father's irate face.


	56. Chapter 56

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 56

**~The next chapter is written, I just have to edit it. Enough reviews may inspire me to post it later tonight or early tomorrow morning :-)**

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"Let's go," he said tightly, his words clipped. He was shocked when Abby shook her head.

"I don't think so," she said calmly. "I told you in the note that I would be home by midnight and it's only nine o'clock right now."

Dave felt his blood pressure rise a couple of points. After sneaking out of the house and making both him and JJ worry about her all day, she was going to cop an attitude with him? He bent down and put his mouth close to her ear, "Do you really think I won't make a scene here?"

Abby gulped, she knew he wasn't bluffing so she said her goodbyes to her friends and made her way to the front door with her father. As they stepped through the front door, she groaned as she saw Steve and Hotch standing on the front path. Without a word, her father led her out of the house and down to the waiting SUV.

Once they were on the sidewalk in front of the house, Abby wrenched her arm free of her father's grip and started down the sidewalk in the opposite direction of her uncle's car.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" Dave yelled as he caught up to her and once again caught her arm in his vice grip.

"One day! All I wanted was _one_ day and you couldn't even give me that! I told you I'd be home by midnight, but you had to come here and ruin this for me! If you had just left me alone for three more hours, I would have had a great day!" She shouted.

Remembering his promise to JJ about not making a scene, Dave bit out, "Get your ass in the car NOW!"

She shook her head, "NO, I'm not going home until midnight!" She said as she stamped her foot like a small child. She couldn't believe that her perfect day was ending so early and abruptly. Since she knew she was already in deep shit, Abby decided to go for broke. Once again she shook her arm out of her father's grip and stormed off down the sidewalk at a fast clip.

Hotch, who was in the SUV, started it up in case he had to chase after her, but it turned out there was no need. Gibbs, who had been assigned to watch the back door of the house, had made his way to the front after getting the all-clear from Dave. As he was walking to the front of the house, he saw Abby break free and start down the sidewalk. He watched as Dave caught up with her and they exchanged words, but Gibbs could tell she was going to run so he quietly walked around some of the shrubbery in the neighboring yard and came up behind her. As she stormed off for a second time, Gibbs stepped out from behind the tree that was blocking him from her view and stepped directly into her path. She barely stopped in time to avoid crashing into him.

"Gibbs!" She said, surprised. He didn't say a word to her; he just bent down, picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. The shock of being physically restrained took some of the wind out of Abby's sails and she didn't say anything as her father's friend carried her to the SUV. Her last thought, before Gibbs set her down roughly on the ground, was she hoped none of her friends had seen it.

Once her feet were on solid ground, she let her father lead her to the SUV. Once there, he helped her into the backseat, buckled her seatbelt, barked "Don't move!" and then slammed the door shut. Since Hotch was still in the driver's seat, he quickly pressed the child locks so Abby wouldn't be able to make a break for it. While Dave said goodbye to Gibbs, Hotch began to let Abby know how he felt about her disappearing act.

"Are you crazy? Do you know how worried everyone was?" He asked loudly, looking at the surly teenager in the rearview mirror.

"Don't start with me, Uncle Aaron," she said, still mortified at being dragged from the party and then carried to the car.

"I'm sure as _hell _going to start with you!" He said incredulously, not quite believing that his normally sweet pseudo niece had turned into a teenager from hell. "Do you know what we went through today? What your _parents_ went through?"

"I left a note! I had Becca call! What more could I have done?" She yelled.

Hotch was about to yell back a response, when he heard a knock on one of the windows. Still pissed, he hit the unlock button and Steve climbed into the front seat while Dave finished his discussion outside with Gibbs.

"Thanks for your help tonight, Jethro," Dave said, shaking the man's hand.

"Any time, Dave, I'm just glad it ended well," Gibbs said, looking at the car.

"Yeah, well, it isn't going to end well for my daughter tonight, that's for damn sure!" Dave told him.

"We'd better get out of here; someone may have called DC Metro with an anonymous tip saying there was underage drinking and drug use at this party," Gibbs said, matter-of-factly.

Dave laughed, "Thanks again, man." With that, Gibbs got into his own car and left, while Dave got in the back of the SUV so he could be near his daughter.

It was a silent and tense ride home for all of the occupants of the SUV. Dave was practically spitting nails, he was so angry, while Hotch was still pissed that Abby had mouthed off to him the way she had. The only occupant of the car who wasn't angry with Abby herself was Steve; he was pissed that a sixteen year-old girl had managed to get past his security perimeter.

Abby was also quiet on the way home as she began to realize that sneaking out may not have been her best move, nor was trying to escape her father's clutches once she'd been busted. As she watched the darkened scenery pass by, she wondered if she might not prefer Suzette and her henchmen.

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Forty-five minutes later, the SUV pulled up to the cabin and Dave and Steve got out. Dave walked around to his daughter's door and opened it and was surprised to see that she was still seat belted to the seat. Furrowing his brow, Dave reached in to unbuckle it, but found his hand blocked by Abby.

"No thanks," she said, finally realizing how much trouble she was in, "I think I'll stay here."

As pissed as he was, Dave had to bite back a smile when he heard Hotch's voice from the driver's side ask "Do you really think you're any safer with me?"

Abby sighed, she wasn't any safer with Hotch, but at least he was just one man. Granted, he was an intense and somewhat scary man, but still, just one guy. The look on her father's face finally convinced her to unbuckle her safety belt and climb out of the relative safety of the car.

As soon as she was out of the car, she felt her father's hand once again clamp onto her upper arm. He quickly walked her to the cabin and didn't release her until they were safely inside, where she met up with her mother. Although she was trying to hide it, Abby could tell that her mother was beyond furious as she walked through the front door.

JJ, who was relieved to see her daughter alive and in one piece, quickly felt her worry change to anger as her daughter stepped into the foyer. "Are you okay?" She asked tersely.

"Yeah, I'm fine, mom," Abby said, looking at the floor. She distinctly heard her father mutter "for now."

"Good, now get your ass into the great room!" She ordered.

Abby couldn't remember the last time her mother swore at her and she beelined it to the great room with her parents on her heels. She sat down in one of the easy chairs and looked around the room. She was getting angry looks from Steve, Paul, her parents and Derek. She was sure that if her uncle was still there, she would be getting an pissed off look from him as well. The only person who looked even remotely sympathetic was Penelope, but Abby knew it wouldn't be enough to save her.

"Do you have _any _idea how worried we were about you?" Her father thundered, as he towered over her. "You sneak out of the house, a house that's been secured because of threats against us, you don't call or contact us and then you cop an attitude when we finally find you! Have you TOTALLY lost your mind?"

"I left a note!" Abby defended herself, her anger once again bubbling to the surface. "And I had Becca call you! What more did you want from me?"

"How about that you would stay in the house like we told you to!" Dave shouted at the top of his lungs.

Abby looked around the room and was embarrassed that everyone was still present for the argument that was currently taking place. "Do we have to do this with everyone here?" She asked belligerently, as she looked around the room.

"Since everyone here worked to get you back and were just as worried about you as we were, yes, I'd say they can stay for this portion of the evening!" Her father yelled.

Abby opened her mouth to argue when her mother cut in, "No, she's right Dave, this is between the three of us, no one else needs to be here."

"I think they do, if only to keep me from killing her," Dave said, but JJ shook her head, thanked everyone for their help and shooed them all out of the cabin. Once they were gone, she turned to her daughter, "You might want to re-think your attitude young lady, because if you keep mouthing off to us like that, it won't be your _father _you'll have to worry about!"

Abby stared at her mother in shock; she'd never threatened her before! She wisely bit back her retort and kept her mouth shut.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Dave yelled.

Abby opened her mouth to answer, but her mother cut her off. "Do you know how much danger you put all of us in? You risked not only your own safety, but our safety as well!"

Abby once again tried to defend herself, but her father wouldn't let her. "I think it's fairly obvious that she _wasn't _thinking, Jen! At least not about anyone but herself! That goddamned party was more important to her than her family, than her own safety!"

"It wasn't, I just-" That was as far as she got before her mother interrupted her. "Was it worth it?" She asked. "Was it worth it to put your family in danger? Was it worth it to have your parents lose all trust and faith in you? Were your goddamn friends and a day of freedom worth all of this?" JJ shouted fiercely as Abby's eyes filled with tears. Her mother had _never_ yelled at her like this before and it frightened Abby.

"Mom, I-" She was interrupted yet again, this time by Dave.

Shooting his daughter a dirty look, Dave sat down on the sofa opposite her and pulled JJ down with him. "You need to calm down, Jen, I don't want you having a relapse."

"I'm fine, Dave," she said, sitting on the edge of the sofa. Dave watched her for a minute, just to be sure, and then he turned back to his daughter. "For Christ's sake Abby, I almost had to bury your mother less than a month ago, do I really have to worry about planning your funeral as well?" He asked sharply, his anger picking up speed again. "You asked us if you could go to the party and we said no. We told you about the dangers involved, about how it would leave the security team short staffed here, about how it could put all of us in danger, but the bottom line is that we told you that you couldn't go! Was anything unclear to you that day? Did you somehow misinterpret our decision?" He waited for an answer and got none, "Answer me!" He said, slamming his fist down on the coffee table. As he did that, the last shred of intelligence, the last bit of self-preservation left Abby's body and she snapped.

"Well God dad, you seemed to have me all figured out, why don't _you _answer the question?" She yelled. As soon as she got the words out, she knew she had made a colossal mistake. A look came into her father's eyes that she had never seen before and she knew she'd made a bad situation even worse.

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**Calling all CM readers and authors! Join us for our first Profiler's Choice CM Awards on Fanfiction. net! Help us choose the best of the best of the CM stories on ff. net, and let your voice be heard. Anyone with a ff. net account is eligible to nominate. Please check out the nominating ballot and rules at Chit Chat on Author's Forum at http:/ forum. fanfiction. net/topic/74868/30888142/1/. All rules and information are on the forum.**


	57. Chapter 57

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 57

**~Wow, a lot of people had opinions about Abby's behavior in the last chapter (see a/n 2 at the end of this chapter)! Thanks for all of the reviews and PM's for chapter 56! As promised, here's chapter 57 earlier than I would have normally posted it.**

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Dave, upon hearing his daughter's back talk, had an almost overwhelming urge to take her over his knee and paddle some sense into her, and if it wasn't for his wife sitting next to him and her cardinal rule about never physically disciplining their daughter, he might have done just that. Instead he felt his face turn purple and his pulse rate sky rocket as he responded back to her sassiness.

"I cannot _believe_ you're giving me smart ass remarks!" He roared as he jumped to his feet. "After all you've done today, I've yet to hear you apologize!"

"I've been _trying_ to apologize and explain, but you and mom won't let me get a word in edgewise!" Abby shot back.

Dave sat back down, "By all means, explain this to us. Explain your self-centeredness, your selfishness, your immaturity! Please, I would love to hear it, wouldn't you Jen?"

JJ nodded, "I would, Dave. I would love to hear her excuse for openly defying us, for lying to us, for disobeying our clear and concise decision, for sneaking out and for risking her own life for a party! This I've _got_ to hear!"

"Fine, I'll tell you!" Abby practically shouted, but then wisely lowered her voice as she saw the looks on her parent's faces. "I'm sorry I snuck out and I'm sorry I made you worry, but you wouldn't listen to me on Thursday! You both had your minds made up the second I asked to go to the party!"

"Are you forgetting that I went to bat for you with your father?" JJ asked incredulously. Was she really trying to pin the blame for this on them? If so, she had one hell of a rude awakening coming her way.

"No," Abby responded, "But you were obviously in agreement with him!"

"So you snuck out to get back at us?" Dave bellowed.

Abby shook her head, "No, I snuck out because I needed one normal day! I needed a day where I wasn't constantly afraid of what might happen to all of us, I needed a day where I could go places and see people and do things! God, I haven't been out with my friends since before the shooting, and I needed to reconnect!"

"You think your father and I don't feel the same way?" Her mother asked incredulously. "We're stuck here just the same as you are and you don't see us sneaking out under the cover of night!"

"It was actually early morning," Abby said without thinking and immediately regretted the remark as it caused her parent's faces to turn even redder.

"I don't care when it was!" JJ yelled, "It was an incredibly dangerous and risky thing to do!"

"As it turns out, it wasn't!" Abby yelled back, beyond caring about her own well-being. Her parents wouldn't actually kill her, would they? "As it turns out, the threat of danger may have been exaggerated!"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Dave roared, wondering if she actually had lost her mind. "Do you think Suzette just gave up on us? Do you not remember that a week ago they tried shooting us through the windows? Do you not remember being _attacked _in New York?"

Abby nodded, "Of course I remember all of that, I relive those moments every night in my dreams, but I was outside in the open for over twelve hours today and _nothing _happened!"

"You got lucky!" Dave retorted.

Abby shook her head, "I don't think so! I think you're being your over protective self by not letting us go out! I was _fine_ today!"

Something in Dave snapped and he jumped to his feet once again. "You think I'm making all of this up? You think I'm being over protective? Wait here!" He ordered as he left the room. Abby and JJ sat in an angry silence until Dave came back into the room a minute later. He tossed a file full of papers down on the coffee table in front of Abby.

"Look at some of those things and then tell me if you still think I'm being over protective! Let's see if you still think I'm making too much of this!"

Abby picked the file up, looked at some of the pieces of paper and gasped. The file was filled with explicitly threatening letters, threatening emails, pictures of them through the cabin windows with large targets painted over their heads, pictures of mutilated bodies with the words 'you're next' scrawled underneath.

Abby threw the file back onto the coffee table and sucked in a ragged breath, "I had no idea," she whispered.

"No, you didn't!" Dave yelled, still pissed beyond belief. "You never knew about the pictures, about the emails we've been getting to all of our accounts, about the disgusting voicemails that have been left on your cell phone. You weren't aware of the potshots Suzette's men have taken at the house since got back into town. You didn't know that Steve has stationed guards at your grandmother's and aunts and uncles houses because of threats against them. You didn't know that every member of the team has received threats against themselves and against us! You never knew about these things because I didn't want to frighten you, I didn't want to make things worse for you! But that, sweetheart, went out the window today! Maybe you need to be more scared! Maybe you need to know that we are being watched! For Christ's sake Abby, the three of us are being hunted by a pack of psychos who will do anything for money! And when I say anything, I mean _anything_! If they were to get their hands on us, do you really think it would be quick? Or do you think they'd have some fun with us first? Do you really want to find out?" He thundered, trying to get his point across to her.

"No," she whispered with tears in her eyes.

"No, you really don't! And I'm doing my damnedest to make sure you never do find out!" He yelled and then took a deep breath, trying to bring his anger down to a manageable level.

"You need to go to your room, pronto!" He said through clenched teeth. "I don't want to hear your voice or look at you right now. However, when you get to your room the door stays wide open; it's obvious we can't trust you anymore and until we're sure you won't sneak out again, or do something equally as dangerous, your door will remain open. You can close your bathroom door when you're in the shower or using the toilet, but that's it. I don't care if a breeze blows it shut, if your door closes for _any _reason I'll take it off its hinges, got it?" He asked roughly.

Abby nodded and he continued, "Your laptop is a distant memory, as are your car and any remaining freedom you had. I don't care if we catch Suzette tomorrow, you're going to be restricted to this house until we know we can trust you again, and that restriction is going to be a total one. Like I said, we already have your laptop, but you're also grounded from watching television."

JJ took over for her husband, "If you get bored, I'm sure we can find things for you to do around the house, although I'm sure you won't be sitting idle for the first couple of days since you'll be putting your room back together." Abby looked at her mother questioningly when she said this and she explained. "We had the guys toss your room to look for anything that would give us clues as to where you might have gone. They were thorough and your room looks like more of a disaster area than it normally does."

"I can't believe you had them search my room!" Abby exclaimed, hoping they didn't find anything _too _incriminating.

"I can't believe you put us in a position where we _had _to search your room!" JJ shot back.

There was a moment of tense silence before Dave spoke, "Any questions about your restriction? I want to make sure we're _crystal_ clear about everything, I don't want there to be any misinterpretation in this."

"No, I've got it," Abby told him, barely keeping a snide tone out of her voice.

"Good, now go to bed!" Dave bit out.

Abby got up from her seat and rushed from the room. Dave waited to hear the slamming of her bedroom door, and if he had it would have led to a whole new argument, but thankfully the door stayed open.

Dave finally exhaled, sat back into the sofa and closed his eyes. His peace was disturbed a moment later by his angry wife. "Was that really necessary, Dave?" He heard from the other end of the couch. He tiredly cracked his eyes open.

"What are you talking about? Do you mean all of the shouting? Because if so, I remember hearing your raised voice more than once.

JJ shook her head, "No, that definitely _was_ necessary. I'm talking about showing her the pictures and the threats! Did you have to let her know that there are people watching all of our moves? Did you have to tell her about the threats against the family and the team? Did you have to make her ponder what our deaths would be like if these guys ever get their hands on us?" She was practically screeching by the end.

Dave nodded, "It was definitely necessary!" He told her, "I never thought she'd do something as stupid and reckless as this, but now that she has, I need her to be afraid of what's out there. I can't let her go around thinking the danger had passed; I need her to know there are crazies out there gunning for us!"

"Well I think it was cruel," JJ spat. "She doesn't sleep through the night as it is; this is just going to make things worse for her. We could have come up with another way of punishing her!"

"Dammit Jen, I didn't show her that file to punish her, I did it to wake her up! I did it so she wouldn't ever think of sneaking out again! I'm sorry if I made things worse for her, but I would rather have an emotionally troubled daughter than a dead one!" He couldn't believe his wife was coming down on him for this.

JJ sighed, "You're right, she needed a wake-up call, but I think both of us let our emotions play a large part in it. We'll just add this to the laundry list of items she'll need therapy for once this whole thing is over," she said sadly, not finding any humor in the situation.

Dave saw that his wife was exhausted and he helped her to her feet. "Come on Jen, we're both worn out, let's go to bed."

She nodded and they both walked hand in hand to the stairs. She was glad her daughter made it home safely, but she wondered if the worst was still to come.

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_A/N 2: This was a difficult chapter for me to write. Even after I had this chapter finished, I went back and edited it numerous times and re-wrote it before finally settling on this version. I was conflicted because I knew that if I (or any of my siblings) had pulled something like this as teens, the consequences would have been much different than what Abby got. _

_As a result of my own upbringing, and from some of the comments I received from my fellow authors regarding Abby's behavior and possible consequences, this is one of the few chapters I've ever written that has an alternate version. In the alternate version, Dave breaks JJ's cardinal 'no physical discipline' rule a little bit in order to get Abby's attention. _

_I went back and forth over which chapter finally use, and I ultimately decided that I was more comfortable posting this version and I thought the characters in this chapter stay closer to how I've written them throughout both stories. That being said, if you're interested in reading the alternate version of the chapter, shoot me a PM and I'll send it to you._


	58. Chapter 58

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 58

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The next few days were not happy ones in the Rossi household. Abby, who'd felt trapped before, now really knew what it felt like to be a prisoner in her own home. As she tried to read a book in her bedroom, she pondered the ways in which things had worsened since she'd snuck out of the house.

Since she wasn't going to school, her parents had pretty much left it up to her to decide when to go to bed and when to get up in the morning, but now they were making those, and many other, decisions for her. Her dad usually entered her room through her open door at around eight each morning in order to wake her for breakfast. She learned on Sunday that skipping breakfast was _not _an option. After a tense meal, she usually retreated back to her bedroom until one of her parents ordered her down for lunch and then supper. Then, at around nine o'clock each night, one of them would come in and tell her it was time for bed and ten minutes later she was expected to have her lights turned off. It was a horrible experience for someone who had so independent for most of her life.

The worst part of the whole thing, other than constantly being told what to do, was the lack of privacy. Before she'd snuck out she hadn't had much privacy, as her parents were constantly checking to see that she was okay due to her occasional freak outs over being alone, but now they were constantly coming into her room to check that she was still there. They usually didn't say anything, but the constant intrusions were making her crazy. Abby was by nature a solitary person and she used to come into her room, shut the door and listen to her iPod as a way to escape from the stresses that were going on around her, but now she couldn't even do that! Not only was she not allowed to shut her door, all of her music had been taken away from her since it was divided up between her laptop, cell phone and iPod, which had broken a few days before the party. She couldn't even hide out in her bathroom! That first morning she figured she'd take a really long shower in order to have an hour to herself, but her father must have read her mind and along with many other new rules, he'd told her that her showers were to be no longer than ten minutes. She found out he was dead serious about the rules that very morning when after ten minutes in the shower, the water suddenly turned ice cold. As she stepped out of the shower, shivering, she silently cursed her father for shutting off the hot water. It was at that point when she realized just how pissed off he was at her.

Along with the lack of privacy the boredom was starting to drive her nuts as well. The first day of her restriction went quickly, since she had spent the day putting her room back together. She was surprised at how thorough the security guys were; she didn't think there was anything of hers that hadn't been touched. Thankfully they hadn't found her diary, which was in her bookshelf under the disguise of a chick-lit book cover, nor had they gone through her college acceptances file. The absolute last thing she needed was for her parents to learn about her acceptance to UC Berkeley! While she hadn't yet decided where she wanted to go for college, she knew they would collectively blow their stacks if they found out she'd even _applied_ there. Plus, with the way things were currently going, attending a school three thousand miles away from her parents was sounding more and more appealing.

That was another hard part of her restriction; she was stuck in a house with people who were furious with her, not that she was exactly happy with her parents. They were both barely speaking to her, and when they did, it was only to tell her what to do. She was getting tired of being ordered around like a soldier and she didn't know how much longer she would be able to keep from mouthing off to them again. All she knew was that she couldn't wait until they were finally able to leave the house again. She knew that after her all of her back talk on Saturday she would be on restriction until she was eighty, but at least she would be able to escape to school for seven hours each day.

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While their daughter was upstairs fuming over the injustices in her life, her parents were trying to watch a movie in the great room but both were distracted by thoughts of the previous weekend. Dave was still pissed as hell with his daughter and while he would always love her, he didn't like her much at that moment. In the three years he'd known her, she had screwed up before but never this badly. When she'd snuck out Saturday night, not only had she put herself in danger, she'd put everyone else in danger as well. If Suzette or any of her men had found out that Abby was missing, it would have been a perfect time for them to launch an attack against the cabin since they were distracted by Abby's absence. They also could have gone after the team or the rest of his family and split up the security force even more, not to mention it was a fucking miracle that Abby hadn't been kidnapped or killed by one of Suzette's goons. The worst part of this was that Abby _still_ didn't think she'd done anything wrong, or if she did finally realize it she hadn't apologized to them and that's what pissed Dave off the most.

He knew she had been through a lot in the past month and she'd been great throughout it, but the way she acted on Saturday shocked and angered him. He wondered if it had been a one-time thing or if she was turning into a self-centered teenager late in her teen years. He fervently hoped it was a one-time thing, because he didn't know if he could put up with much more from her, especially since she had the nerve to be angry with him and JJ! Had she really expected to be greeted with smiles and hugs? Did she really think they wouldn't be livid with her? Sure, she'd left a note and she'd had Becca call them, but her behavior after he'd caught her at the party, and then later at the cabin had been disgraceful and she was lucky to still be in one piece!

He was also afraid of what all of the stress was doing to his wife. JJ had only been out of the hospital for two weeks and he was worried that the tension between them and Abby, combined with the general fear of their family being under constant threat, would slow her recovery or even send her back to the hospital. Thankfully there were no signs of a relapse, but he was watching her like a hawk to make sure.

JJ, who was curled up in her husband's arms, was aware of the anger he had towards their daughter, and she was worried. He was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders and she was afraid that all of the guilt, stress, anger and fear would finally catch up with him and make him sick or even give him a heart attack. She knew that regardless of what she said to the contrary, he still blamed himself for their predicament since it was his ex-wife who was behind all of it. No matter how many times she tried telling him it wasn't his fault, he never really believed it and she could tell. She also knew that he lived in abject terror of not being able to protect her and Abby from harm caused by Suzette and her henchmen. JJ knew that if, God forbid, something _did _happen to one or both of them, Dave wouldn't be able to live with himself, he would never get over it and that scared her more than she could say.

The anger he felt towards their daughter was also shared by her, but she was worried about Abby as well. She never thought it would come to this with her, she never thought they would have to watch her like a hawk to make sure she didn't do something else that would endanger them, or herself. While Dave felt mostly anger, JJ felt both anger and disappointment. She had never been more disappointed in her daughter than she had been on Saturday. The way she had talked to them, the disrespect she'd shown them was heartbreaking and JJ hoped it was due to the events that had taken place over the past month and not some permanent shift in her daughter's personality. A part of her felt the need to stand up for her daughter because she knew Abby had been almost a perfect child for most of her life and JJ wanted to defend who Abby had been, not the self-centered, unapologetic, disrespectful child she had been over the weekend. Deep down she knew her daughter was still the great kid she had always been and once they were able to leave the house, she vowed that she would get her whatever help was needed to make her whole again.

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Another day went by, and soon it was Tuesday. As she was reading a book in her open room, Abby tried not to think about the fact that she she should be on spring break. Even if she hadn't been on restriction, she would still be missing her spring break and that thought saddened her. She couldn't help but think that they should be in Italy right now, seeing the sights in Rome, but instead they were stuck in the cabin. What if they didn't catch Suzette before the end of the school year? Would she miss saying goodbye to her friends before they all went off to college? After all of her hard work, would she really have to miss her own high school graduation? Those thought played in her head as she closed her eyes.

Suddenly, Abby wasn't in her room any more, she was in her friend Jordan's car and they were on the highway that led to the cabin. The clock on the car stereo read eleven-thirty and they were on their way back from Taylor's party. Both Abby and Jordan were singing along to the radio and Abby was thinking it had been one of the best days she'd had in awhile, but she was dreading going home and she really didn't want to deal with her parent's reaction to her sneaking out of the house. As Jordan pulled off the highway and onto the long, gravel driveway, she felt her stomach tighten in anticipation of the argument she knew was coming her way.

As her friend pulled to a stop in front of the house, she asked, "Want me to go in with you?"

"Nah," Abby said, "I don't want you to get in trouble. Thanks though," she said as she stepped out of the car. Once she shut her door, Jordan waved to her through the window and sped off towards the highway. Abby turned around and walked towards the front door, wondering why none of the guards were approaching her. As she climbed the porch steps, she saw what looked like a hand sticking out from behind the porch half-wall. Once she got to the top of the steps, she investigated and found both Steve and Paul dead, their bodies riddled with bullet holes. Biting back a scream, she pushed the front door open and looked in horror.

It looked as though an epic gun battle had taken place in the great room. Bodies were all over the room, including those of Garcia, Derek, Emily and her Uncle Aaron, not to mention many of the security guards and guys she assumed were Suzette's hired hit men. The heavy smell of blood, gun powder and sweat hung in the air and Abby was gagging as she went up the stairs to the second floor.

Her heart was pounding and she could barely breathe as she walked down the hallway towards her parent's room. Both terrified and almost certain of what she would find in the master bedroom, Abby slowly pushed the door open and nearly collapsed at the sight. Her parents were lying neatly in their bed and both had bullet holes in the center of their foreheads. She could feel the tears pouring down her face as she stood in the room and realized everyone she loved was dead. As she stood, staring at her parent's corpses, she heard a noise behind her and spun around. Standing there was Suzette and, before Abby could do anything, Suzette put the gun to her head and said, "Thanks, I couldn't have done all of this without your help."

With a loud gasp, Abby sat bolt upright in her bed. Her eyes darted around the room and she realized she had dreamed it all. She had to convince herself that everyone was still alive, that they were okay, but it was hard since the smell of blood was still in her nose and she could still feel where Suzette had placed the barrel of the gun against her forehead. Bolting from her bed, she knew she had to check to make sure her parents were all right. She ran into the hallway and looked in their bedroom but found it empty. Feelings of both panic and despair rose inside of her as she ran down the stairs and she was relived to find her mother sprawled out on a sofa in the great room, reading a book.

"Mom!" She cried running into the room. JJ, hearing the distress in her daughter's voice, sat up.

"What is it Abby?" She asked, concerned. Abby had tears pouring down her panicked face.

Abby practically jumped onto the sofa next to her and threw her arms around her. "I had the worst dream!" She said as she held on to JJ for dear life. "I came home and everyone was dead and then," Abby was so upset, her voice was hitching. "And then she killed me! It was," her voice hitched again, "It was all my fault!"

As angry as she was with Abby, JJ knew she had to comfort her so she put her arms around her and tried to both calm her down and stop her trembling. "It's okay Abby, it was just a dream," she soothed.

Abby pulled out of her arms and looked at her wildly, "But it _wasn't _just a dream! I mean it _was_, but it could have happened! I could have come home and…oh my God, I could have gotten us all killed! We could all be dead because of me!" She shrieked. It was finally dawning on Abby that she could have killed everyone she loved with her selfish actions on Saturday. "Oh mom, I'm so, SO sorry! I get it now! I get that what I did could have hurt everybody, not just me!" Abby's eyes were huge and her voice was high pitched and loud as she profusely apologized.

JJ was happy that her daughter finally understood the ramifications of her actions on Saturday, but she was sad that it had to come from such a horrible nightmare. Watching as tears streamed down Abby's face, she pulled her back into her arms and held her.

"I'm so sorry mom, I'm so sorry," she kept repeating as her mother rocked her in her arms. After five minutes or so, Abby finally calmed down somewhat and JJ released her. Once she did, Abby turned so she was facing her and she apologized one more time.

"I'm glad you finally see that what you did on Saturday could have affected all of us, but it was just a dream Abby, we're all fine." JJ reassured her.

"I know, but my god, it was all so vivid!" Abby told her, looking around the great room. She swore she could still see the bodies lying all around and she shivered. "Please tell me you forgive me, please tell me you still love me!" She begged, unable to bear the thought that her parents hated her for doing what she had done.

"Of course still I love you and I forgive you, but everything is not forgotten," JJ told her. "While I forgive you, I'm still upset at the way you treated us on Saturday night and all of your restrictions are still in place, but we can talk about that later." JJ told her and Abby nodded, relieved that she still had her mother's love. "Why don't you lay down and try to sleep some more? I think you need a nice dream to help you calm down." That had always been JJ's answer when Abby had nightmares as a child and she hoped it would work this time.

Abby nodded, "Can I sleep in here with you?" She asked tentatively, hoping her mother wasn't still so pissed at her that she would say no. To her relief, JJ nodded and placed a pillow on her lap. "Lie down and try to sleep," JJ told her.

Abby followed her instructions and put her head on the pillow and closed her eyes. She felt her mother stroke her hair every couple of seconds and she soon fell into a heavy sleep.

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	59. Chapter 59

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 59

* * *

An hour later, Abby awoke feeling more content than she had in days. She didn't have to open her eyes to know that she was still in her mother's partial embrace since she could feel one of her mom's arms resting on her hip. Even though she was awake, Abby kept her eyes closed and so she could stay in her position on the couch. Being in her mother's arms and knowing she was loved her made her feel safe and that feeling didn't come around too often anymore.

JJ set her book down when she noticed her daughter's breath rate increase and she realized she was awake. "Did you sleep well?" She asked, already knowing that she had. She'd watched her daughter as she slept and she saw that Abby's face had remained smooth throughout her nap and she didn't whimper or thrash around, both telltale signs of a nightmare.

Abby sat up and nodded, "I didn't have any dreams, good or bad, so I guess that's something, right?"

JJ nodded, "Right." They both sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Abby spoke.

"I really _am _sorry about Saturday," she said told her mom, not wanting her to think the apology had been a part of the fear over her nightmare.

"I know you are Abby, and I've already accepted your apology. I would suggest you work on apologizing to everyone else though," JJ told her, knowing her daughter had angered and inconvenienced numerous people over the weekend.

Abby nodded, "I know I'm on restriction, but can I use the landline phone?" She asked. "I want to apologize to everyone on the team and to Gibbs. That way, when I go tell dad I'm sorry, I can tell him I've already apologized to everyone else."

"You can use the phone, but only to call the people you just mentioned. Also, don't answer any calls that might beep in on call-waiting, okay?" JJ didn't want her to get one of the numerous threats they received each day.

"Got it," Abby replied. "Is it okay if I call from the kitchen? I want to make some soup for supper and I thought I'd work on it while I talked to everyone."

JJ nodded, "Go ahead."

"Thanks mom," Abby said as she got up from the sofa. "For everything." She was grateful to her mother for comforting her and calming her down. Even though she was still on severe restriction, she was relieved that her mother had forgiven her for her actions the previous Saturday.

She was nervous as she walked into the kitchen. She knew she was about to call a bunch of pissed off people and she knew that by the end of her phone calls, she would probably be wishing that Suzette _had _gotten a hold of her over the weekend.

Two hours later, JJ walked into the kitchen just as her daughter was hanging up the phone. "Did you get a hold of everyone?"

Abby nodded, "Everyone except Uncle Aaron, but I left a voice mail for him. I never want to do that again!"

"Was it rough?" JJ asked, without much sympathy.

"Actually, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Emily and Penelope were surprisingly understanding, while Derek was a cross between angry and amused. Spencer accepted my apology and then started in on some topic that I didn't understand and I kind of tuned him out." Abby told her as she added some fresh herbs to the simmering pot of soup that sat on the stove. "And predictably, Gibbs reamed me a new one, although I think he'll eventually come around." She said giving the soup a good stir, "I was even able to talk to Steve and Paul, since they came in to see what I was cooking. The only person I still need to talk to is dad."

"I think he's in the study," JJ told her.

Abby nodded and took her apron off, hung it on the hook near the table, and started down the hallway towards the study. She had been dreading this apology; she had been so horrible to her father on Saturday and she was worried he wouldn't accept her apology, and she couldn't blame him if he didn't. She stood in front of the study door for a minute, took a deep breath and pushed the door open. Like her mother said, her dad was in there, sitting at his desk and frowning at some papers in front of him. He must have been expecting her mom because he looked up with a smile, but it disappeared when he saw it was her.

"Do you have a minute dad?" Abby asked timidly.

Dave noticed the change in his daughter's demeanor. Gone were the challenging stance and the attitude in her voice. She wasn't glaring at him, like she had been at lunch and she was actively talking to him. While he noticed the changes, he didn't much care about them as he was still pissed as hell with her. "You know what Abby? I'm really busy here, so no, I don't have a minute," he said brusquely.

"Oh," she said, disappointed. "Um, I guess I can just talk to you at dinner."

He shook his head, "I have a meeting with Steve at six and it's probably going to take awhile, so I won't be joining you and your mother for dinner tonight."

"Um, okay," Abby said softly, "I'll leave some soup in the pot for you so all you'll have to do is reheat it."

Dave nodded and turned his attention back to the papers in front of him, while Abby retreated from the room. Once she was in the hallway, she gave a shuddery exhale. She knew he was busy, but she also knew that most of it was his anger at her. She knew it was going to be hard to get him to forgive her.

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The next morning, Abby was at the toaster making herself a light breakfast, when she felt her father's presence in the room. She didn't say a word as she pulled her toast from the slots and buttered them, but her stomach clenched in apprehension. She finished preparing her light breakfast and sat down at the table in the breakfast nook where her father was reading the paper. She took a few bites of the bread before she finally got enough nerve to speak up.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" She asked her father and was shocked by his answer.

He set the newspaper down and took off his reading glasses, "I'm sorry Abby but no, you can't talk to me for a minute. I am still incredibly angry with you and I'm not interested in anything you have to say right now." With that, he got up and started back towards the staircase that would lead him to the master bedroom, leaving his daughter in a stunned silence.

Abby was shocked that her father wouldn't talk to her or hear her out. She knew she had screwed up big-time the previous weekend, but her father had never refused to speak to her before; in fact, he was a big proponent of talking things to death, whether one was angry or not, so for him to shut her out like this both hurt and scared her.

She went about her morning tasks of showering and straightening up her room before she sat on her bed and tried reading a book for her English class. It was a losing battle from the moment she sat down, and an hour later she gave up completely. She couldn't concentrate on anything other than her dad's anger towards her. What if she'd messed up so badly that he left them again? What if they never got past this? He'd always told her there was nothing she could do to make him stop loving her, but had he ever envisioned her putting their entire family in jeopardy? Maybe this _was _something that could take his love away. She shook her head to get those thoughts out of her mind, got up from her bed and made her way to the first floor. She needed to do _something_ to take her mind off of all of this, and she decided to make and then simmer some of her grandmother's meatballs in the slow cooker for supper.

Once she hit the first floor, she peeked into the great room and saw that her mother was asleep on one of the sofas. Abby tiptoed from the room, happy to see her recuperating mother resting. She got to the kitchen, tied an apron around herself, gathered the necessary ingredients and went to work. An hour later, she had just finished making the top secret tomato sauce and was starting to work on the meatballs when she heard someone enter the kitchen through the garage door. She turned around to find her Uncle standing behind her.

"Abby," he said coolly. "Is your dad around? I have to talk to him about a couple of things."

"He's in the study, but can I talk to you first?" She said hesitantly. What if he shut her out like her dad?

Hotch leaned against the small kitchen table, folded his arms across his chest and nodded. Abby took a deep breath; he wasn't going to make this easy for her. "I'm sorry about Saturday night, Uncle Aaron. I know I put you in danger with my actions, and I never meant to and…I'm sorry. I was really horrible to you in the car and I'm sorry for that too, I don't know what was wrong with me that night, I was such a bitch to everyone and I'm sorry." At this point she was staring down at the counter, unable to meet her uncle's eyes. "I understand if you don't want me to call you 'Uncle Aaron' anymore or if you don't want me to see Jack," she said softly.

"Abby," Hotch said, gentler than before, "Of course you can still call me 'Uncle Aaron,' I'll be your over protective uncle until the day I die, and even then I'll be watching out for you from the great beyond." She smiled when he said that because she knew it was true. "As for Saturday, yes you did behave pretty badly, but at least you realize it and you're taking responsibility for it. Plus, I'm guessing your parents came down pretty hard on you?"

She nodded, "You have no idea. If I thought I was a prisoner before, well let's just say that I long for the days before I snuck out."

Hotch smiled, "You can't really blame them, they were really worried about you."

"I know, I just wish…" She trailed off, but Hotch's curiosity was piqued.

"You just wish what?" He asked.

"I just wish dad would let apologize to him. I've been trying to talk to him since yesterday afternoon and he keeps blowing me off. He's _really_ pissed, Uncle Aaron. I wouldn't be surprised if he left again as soon as this was over, not that I would blame him. I know I risked everything this weekend and I don't blame him for hating me, I just…I don't know," she said as she shook her head. She changed the subject and talked with her uncle for another few minutes before he excused himself to meet with Dave.

Once in Dave's office, they talked about the various threats that had come in against the family and team and then they discussed the lack of leads on Suzette's location. Finally Dave asked Hotch if he had anything new to discuss and the younger man nodded.

"How about you let your daughter apologize to you instead of blowing her off?" Hotch asked and Dave felt himself bristling at the unsolicited parenting advice.

"Look Hotch, I know you have a special place in Abby's heart, and vice versa, but this is none of your business, so stay out of it!" Dave told him.

"It's none of my business?" Hotch asked incredulously, his voice rising with every word. "I don't know if you remember who went with you to get your daughter, but it wasn't Reid, it was me, so I'd say it makes it my business! Not to mention the fact that I've been here just about every day working my ass off to keep all of you alive! And you're right, Abby will always have a special place in my heart and it kills me to hear her doubt your love for her!"

"She thinks I don't love her?" Dave asked, as a feeling of guilt and anger hit him.

Hotch nodded, "She thinks she screwed up badly enough that you don't love her. She's worried you're going to leave them again."

"God _dammit_!" He roared, anger at her constant insecurity making him momentarily see red. "I've told her time and time again that she could never make me stop loving her and I've tried every way I know how to get her to believe that I would never leave them again! What more do I need to do?"

"Oh, I don't know Dave," Hotch said sarcastically, "Maybe talk to her? Do you really think ignoring her is helping?"

"I couldn't help blowing her off this morning, I'm still really pissed with her and I was afraid I would say something that would make things worse," he defended himself. "Plus, I might add, Abby has gone days without speaking to _me_ when she's mad."

"So you're comparing your behavior to that of a seventeen year old girl? Really? All she was trying to do was apologize to you and you wouldn't let her," Hotch told him. "God Dave! Your daughter has seen and been a part of things that no teenager should ever have to go through, and up until Saturday she'd been handling them beautifully. I'm not saying you shouldn't be mad at her, or that you shouldn't punish her, I'm saying you should keep in mind that these aren't normal times for _anyone_ and you should take that into account when thinking about what she did."

Dave suddenly felt ashamed of himself for ignoring her for the past couple of days, especially on Sunday night when he heard her having a nightmare in her bedroom and didn't go and comfort her. Hotch was right, these were difficult times and he had a hard time believing that Abby would have done what she did if everything was normal. "I hate it when you're right," he said standing up. "Let me walk you to the door, and then I should go talk to my daughter."

While Hotch and Dave were meeting, Abby had focused on her cooking and she'd been so engrossed in her recipe that she didn't hear her mom come into the room.

"Having fun?" She asked as she sat down at the breakfast bar in front of her daughter.

"Mom, you're up," Abby said happily as she put the last meatball on the cookie sheet. It was nice having _one _of her parents talking to her.

"I shouldn't have slept so long in the first place, now I'll never fall asleep tonight," she said as she watched her daughter slide the meatballs into the oven. Many people put the raw meatballs into the sauce, but both Abby and Marie insisted they tasted better if they were browned in the oven first. Since JJ was less than proficient in the kitchen, she didn't argue with them.

"You should probably be sleeping more," Abby said as she closed the oven door and moved to the sink to wash her hands, "You were shot, remember? Your body needs rest in order to recover," she told her as she grabbed the dish towel from next to her and dried her hands.

"You sound just like your father," JJ told her and got a glare in return.

"That was a low blow," Abby said as she adjusted the temperature of the slow cooker. She didn't want the sauce to burn. "Want some coffee?"

JJ nodded and Abby grabbed two mugs, filled them and set one in front of her mother. She remained standing as she drank hers. "Speaking of your father," JJ said, after she was halfway through the mug of caffeinated brew, "Did you talk to him this morning?"

Abby shook her head, "No, he made it crystal clear he didn't want to speak to me or hear me out," she said as she took a drink from her mug. JJ raised an eyebrow and Abby knew it meant she should continue. "He told me he was still too angry to talk to me. I don't blame him, I know I screwed up massively this weekend and I shouldn't be surprised that he hates me." She said, looking down into her nearly empty coffee mug. Both she and JJ were surprised to hear a deep voice chime in from the hallway.

"I don't hate you Abby," Dave said. "I could _never _hate you."


	60. Chapter 60

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 59

**~Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I didn't have a chance to respond to the reviews personally, but I REALLY appreciate them, they keep me motivated!**

* * *

Abby looked over and saw her dad staring at her from the door way to the kitchen. "C'mere," he said. Abby slowly shuffled over to him, not knowing what to expect. He wouldn't kill her here, right? Not with her mother as a witness?

As soon as she got within an arm's length of him, Dave reached out and pulled her into a gentle hug. "I love you more than life itself; don't you know that by now?" He asked.

Abby nodded into his shoulder, "I think I just forgot," she told him, feeling relieved that he was at least hugging her. It was a start.

"I'm sorry dad, I'm sorry for sneaking out and for the way I acted on Saturday night. It took me a little while, but I finally realized that I could have gotten us all killed and I feel terrible about that." Her voice was muffled by his shoulder, but he understood her. He could also feel dampness on that shoulder and he knew she was crying. He finally released her and looked at her.

"I'm glad you finally understand that what you did could have hurt all of us, Abby. It doesn't make things a hundred percent better, but it's a start," he told her. "Come on, why don't we grab lunch while we talk about this."

Abby wiped her eyes, nodded her agreement and opened the fridge. As she looked around for something to eat, JJ and Dave exchanged smiles; it was nice to have some of the tension gone.

Fifteen minutes later, they were sitting down to a lunch of sandwiches and leftover soup. There were a few minutes of silence as everyone began to eat, and then Dave broke it.

"So why did you do it?" He asked his daughter. "Why did you sneak out after we specifically told you that you couldn't leave the house?"

She stared intently at the sandwich in her hands, "I don't know," she mumbled. Dave wasn't buying it.

"Come on Abby, you know I need a better answer than that," he told her, getting annoyed. "I've only known you a couple of years, but even_ I _know that's not like you. You don't purposely disobey our decisions, you don't sneak out and you sure as hell don't put us in danger, so why did you decide to do it now?"

She sighed and put her sandwich down on her plate. When she looked up, Dave could see she had tears in her eyes. "Because this is all my fault! I'm the whole reason for why we're stuck here, I'm the reason we're under threat, I'm the reason you two got shot!"

Dave was confused and as he shot a glance at his wife, he could see he wasn't the only one having trouble following the conversation since JJ looked as confused as he felt.

"Why do you think this is your fault, Abby?" JJ asked carefully.

"I heard you and dad talking the other day. This all started when Suzette ran into us in Philadelphia. _I'm_ the reason we went to Philly for our famiversary! If we had just gone to New York like the two of you wanted, we wouldn't have run into her! If I hadn't been such a baby about everything then this whole thing never would have happened!" Abby was screeching by the end of her explanation and both of her parents were shocked that she would even _think_ of blaming herself.

"This is _not_ your fault, honey!" JJ said forcefully but Abby didn't buy it.

"It _is_ my fault!" She told her, swiping at the tears that were once again running down her face.

"It _isn't_," Dave insisted. "_I'm_ the one who provoked her, _I'm_ the one who threatened her alimony and _I'm _the one who nearly knocked her on her ass for the way she spoke to you two. If anyone is to blame, it's me!"

Abby shook her head, "But if we hadn't been in Philly in the first place, none of that would have happened," she wailed.

"Suzette is a lunatic, Abby," Dave told her. "She's a jealous, money-grubbing whore and believe me, if she hadn't bumped into us in Philadelphia, then she would have arranged to 'run into us' somewhere else. She's crazy and she isn't happy unless she's happy and everyone else is miserable. Trust me on this; she would have done this to us regardless, just to ruin our happiness. It is NOT your fault!" He reiterated.

Abby didn't believe him, but she was happy that her parents didn't blame her. "Why did you even marry her?" She asked shakily as she wiped her face with her napkin.

"Well, she's…you know what? I married her for reasons that I'm not comfortable talking to you about. Suffice it to say, she was good at things that you'll learn about when you're older. Much, MUCH older."

Both Abby and JJ quietly laughed at his explanation and the atmosphere in the room became lighter for a minute.

"I know you felt responsible for our predicament, and I hope we've been able to convince you that you aren't at fault, but that still doesn't answer the question as to why you snuck out," JJ pointed out.

"I know," Abby said, thinking about the question for a second. "I guess I thought that since I was the one who got us into this mess, I should be the one to get us out of it. I guess I wanted to provoke a reaction from Suzette or some of her guys. I thought I could end this."

She had been staring at her plate as she said all of this and when she looked up, she saw matching thunderous expressions on both of her parent's faces.

"You PURPOSELY put yourself in danger? Are you CRAZY?" Dave bellowed. He had to sit on his hands to keep from shaking her until her teeth rattled! "Of all the stupid, idiotic, and _insane_ things I've ever heard, this _has_ to take the cake!"

Abby wasn't prepared for the intensity of his reaction, "Dad," she started softly, but she was interrupted by her equally irate mother.

"How could you do something so STUPID?" She screeched. "Were you thinking at ALL?"

Abby wondered if she'd undone all of the repairs she'd made with her parents and their relationship. "Mom, I-"

JJ continued, "I would have thought at the very least you would come and talk to us if you were feeling that way! I NEVER would have thought you would disregard your safety and well-being for some misguided feeling of guilt!"

"I thought if I was able to provoke them, then the security team would have been forced to act and we could have ended this once and for all," she explained, hoping it would calm them down. It didn't.

"And what if they had KILLED you?" Dave asked roared, "What if they had seen you in the woods, gotten you and killed you? Or better yet, what if they had just picked you off as you were climbing out your window? What then?"

"Or," JJ shouted, continuing Dave's 'what if' thread, "What if they had gotten their hands on you while you were in the city? Not only could they have hurt _you_, they could have hurt your friends as well! What if they had gotten you and killed you and not let us know? We would have wondered where you were for the rest of our lives

"I guess I didn't think of any of that," she told them quietly.

"No, you sure as HELL didn't!" Dave roared and then took a deep breath to get his anger under control. "Don't you know what it would do to me, to _us_ if something ever happened to you? It was hard enough when Will hurt you in front of me, I almost didn't recover from that, but if they _killed _you? Well then they would have to lock me in the loony bin for the rest of my life, because I would go insane!

"Me too!" JJ nodded.

"I'm sorry," Abby said, her voice barely above a whisper. "If it helps any, I realized it wasn't such a good idea once I was out of the house. I spent the entire day on Saturday looking over my shoulder, wondering if someone was going to grab me, and praying that no one would."

"So why didn't you just come home? Why didn't you end your day early?" JJ asked, her voice still a little louder than conversational.

"I don't know, okay?" Abby said, beginning to lose it again. "It was like I was watching someone else make those stupid choices and I couldn't control it! I mean, my God, that wasn't me! I don't _do_ that! I don't sneak out of the house! I don't ignore your directives and do whatever the hell I want! I'm not the horrible person who was mouthing off to both of you on Saturday night!" Abby was once again shrieking and her parents tried calming her down.

"Abby," JJ said gently.

"No! I don't know what was wrong with me on Saturday! I knew it was a bad idea from the moment I set foot on the ground next to the cabin, but I kept going anyway! When we were in the city, I kept thinking I should go back home before something happens, but it was like I was watching this relaxed, happy girl and I realized it was me and I didn't want it to end, no matter what the consequences. I wanted one afternoon to be like old times, I wanted to go back to a time where I hadn't seen both of you shot, where I hadn't had a knife held to my throat, where I didn't have to constantly worry about someone attacking me! I _know_ I should have come home, but I couldn't because coming home meant coming back to the fear, the captivity, the tension and the worry!"

Dave and JJ sat in shock as Abby screeched her reasons. They shouldn't have been surprised by her revelations, but they were. Ever since they'd arrived home from New York, Abby hadn't wanted to talk about any of their experiences there and her parents, afraid of making things worse for her, hadn't pushed her to talk about them. They were beginning to realize that they had made a mistake with that.

"Sweetie, you need to calm down," JJ said gently, reaching for her hand.

Abby tried to follow her mother's direction by taking deep breaths. She finally relaxed a little and wiped her face. "I'm not trying to make excuses for what I did," she told them, "but ever since I saw you both get shot, and then after what happened with Will, I'm just constantly on edge. We all know I'm not sleeping much at night and I haven't been thinking clearly and I think it all caught up with me on Saturday. I really _am_ sorry," she told them.

"Why didn't you tell us you were feeling this way, Pumpkin?" Dave asked.

Her father's term of endearment sent a few more tears down Abby's cheeks. She had begun to wonder if he would ever call her that again. "Because you both have enough to deal with without worrying about me. God dad, you're trying to take care of mom, keep up the security around this place and you're helping the team with the case! Not to mention you've been worried about me and our extended family. I didn't want to put anything else on your plate," she told him and then looked at JJ. "And you're recovering from a life threatening injury, mom; I sure as _hell_ wasn't going to stress you out with my problems."

"Hey," Dave said, "We're your parents; it's our job to worry about you, to protect _you_, not the other way around!"

"Yeah, but-" Dave didn't let his daughter finish.

"We can't help you if you don't tell us this stuff, Pumpkin; we're not mind readers and no matter what else we have going on in our lives, your mom and I _want_ to help you through all of this, understand?"

Abby just looked at her lap and nodded. There was moment of uneasy silence before JJ spoke again. "Abby, I'm going to get one of the psychologists from the Bureau to come out here to talk with you." Abby's eyes swung toward her mother and she began vigorously shaking her head, but JJ pressed on, "You need help, honey, and I think talking to a therapist will help you work through some of this."

"But mom, I don't want to talk to a therapist," she whined, looking at her father for help. Unfortunately she found none.

"Sorry Abby, I am in complete agreement with your mother, you need to talk to somebody about this, someone who is outside of the situation."

"But what good will it do?" She asked huffily as she crossed her arms across her chest and slunk back in her chair. "All they're going to do is make me re-live it by telling them about it and I _don't _want to do it!"

"Tough," JJ said, "It's happening whether you want it to or not, but I'd like you to be in agreement with it."

Abby considered her mother's words; after her behavior on Saturday she know she owed her parents some cooperation so she unfolded her arms, looked at her mother and said quietly, "Fine, I'll talk to a shrink."

There was another few minutes of silence at the table before Abby broke it, "So…are we okay?" She asked her parents. To her surprise, her father shook his head.

"We're not totally okay but we're getting there, although if you keep agreeing with us and talking to us nicely, we'll be okay soon enough," he told her.

Abby nodded, she knew she had really screwed up so she didn't expect everything to go back to normal right away, which is why her father's next words didn't really surprise her. "I love you honey, but your restrictions are still in place until you earn our trust back and I have to tell you, it will probably be awhile before that happens," he told her.

"I understand," she told him.

"And if you ever," he continued, "_ever_ put yourself in danger like that again, seventeen years old or not, you won't sit comfortably for a week. Got it?"

Abby gulped, she knew her dad wasn't issuing an idle threat so she quickly nodded, "Got it."

"Good," he said, smiling a little. "You look exhausted, why don't you go upstairs and take a nap?"

"I think I will, but will you wake me in an hour? I have to add some herbs and spices to the slow cooker but I don't want to add them too soon."

Dave nodded, "I'll be up in an hour," he promised.

"Okay," Abby said, getting up from her seat. "I…I love you guys," she said quietly.

"We love you too, honey," Dave told her, knowing she needed to hear it from her.

Abby wore a small smile as she left the kitchen and made her way to the staircase. She was still grounded forever, and she knew it would be an uphill battle to earn her parents trust again, but at least the tension was gone between them and that was something.

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	61. Chapter 61

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 61

* * *

Two nights later, Dave had fallen into a deep sleep for the first time in ages and he was resisting the voice that was trying to wake him. "Dave," he heard the voice coo, "Davie, time to wake up."

He slowly opened his eyes and found his ex-wife standing in front of him with the barrel of her gun pressed against his forehead. Instantly awake, his first instinct was to jump up and try to fight her, but as soon as he twitched to move, it was like she was reading his mind and she cocked the gun.

"Uh uh," she tsk'd, "You don't want me hurting your precious Jennifer, do you?" She asked as she nodded towards his wife. Dave followed her gaze and found Paul standing over a terrified JJ. He had a handful of her hair and a gun pressed to her temple. Dave's heart dropped as he realized the serious shit they were in.

"If you two do _exactly _what I tell you, we may not have to wake Abigail. Maybe if she's lucky, she'll sleep through all of this," Suzette told them.

"If we do what you want, you promise you won't hurt her?" Dave asked, finally finding his voice. He would do whatever it took to save his daughter's life.

"I promise," Suzette said as she crossed her heart with her free hand. "Now both of you, get up!" She ordered.

Dave reluctantly got up from the bed, as did JJ. JJ, who usually stiffened up at night and felt pain in her injury site, had taken a pain pill before bed and wasn't moving fast enough for Suzette. "Help her up," she ordered Paul. The security guard, and apparent traitor, reached out his hand for JJ to take but she looked at it as though it was a poisonous snake and struggled to get out of the bed herself. It wasn't fast enough for Dave's ex wife and she came up behind JJ on the other side of the bed and shoved her out. JJ hit the floor with a thud and a sharp cry.

"Goddammit Suzette, take it easy, she's recovering from an injury!" Dave yelled, forgetting that it was Suzette who was behind JJ's gunshot wound.

The woman gave an evil laugh, "That's going to be the _least _of her problems tonight, David!"

"Are you okay, Jen?" He asked worriedly. He couldn't help her up because Suzette still had the gun in his face and he watched his wife slowly get up from the ground.

"I'm fine David," she told him, breathing heavily. Very reluctantly, the two of them quietly marched downstairs to the study, so as not to wake their daughter; they were sandwiched between Suzette and Paul and there was no chance for escape. Once in the room, Suzette turned on all of the lights and ordered them to sit next to each other on the sofa. She then reached into Dave's desk and pulled out his handcuffs.

"Haven't changed at all, have you David?" She asked with a false sweetness. "You still keep your cuffs and credentials and in the second drawer. The only thing that's missing is your service weapon, but you must keep that in a safe now that you have a _child._" The word child was dripping with disdain. She tossed Paul the handcuffs, "Cuff them together," she ordered and Paul moved to obey.

As he was putting the cuffs on them, JJ asked tearfully, "Why are you doing this, Paul? We trusted you! We trusted you with our daughter's _life_ for God's sake!"

"I'm sorry JJ," he said and sounded as though he meant it. "I have a wife and a new baby and…gambling debts. I needed something that would pay back the debts to my bookies or they were going to hurt my family. I'm only doing what I have to do, it's nothing personal."

"Nothing personal?" JJ repeated incredulously. "Do you think it will become _personal _to you when you're outside in the woods, digging our graves? Do you think it will be _personal _to you when you have to tell our daughter we're dead? Will it be personal to you when she cries on your shoulder and you make up some lie about what happened to us?" JJ shouted.

"Enough!" Suzette roared, once she saw that Dave and JJ were secured, "Go get the girl," she ordered Paul.

"Wait! We've followed every order, Suzette! There's no need to bring Abby into this!" Dave practically begged. He knew it was probably too late for himself and his wife, but he would do _anything_ to save their daughter's life.

Suzette laughed, "She was _always_ going to be a part of this, David; I just used the idea of leaving her alone as a way to get you to follow my orders. I'm surprised you couldn't tell I was lying. You must be getting rusty in your old age," she said with a nasty smile.

"You fucking bitch!" Dave snarled and Suzette backhanded him across the face. She did it with the gun in her hand, so it was a heavy slap and Dave could taste blood and feel his eye begin to swell.

"Go get the goddamn girl!" Suzette repeated to Paul, who hadn't yet moved, and he quickly left the room.

Tears streamed down JJ's face when she realized her daughter was going to be a part of this fucked up night and she knew that the three of them would probably be dead in the morning. Was this really the way it was going to end for them? She _just_ married the love of her life, for Christ's sake; shouldn't she get more time with him? And what about Abby? Should she have to pay for her parent's mistakes? Shouldn't she get to grow up? JJ nearly choked as she bit back her tears when she realized all that her daughter would be missing out on in life.

Dave wanted to howl at the frustration he felt over not being able to help the two people who meant the most to him. He would do anything, including die, in order to save their lives, but it looked like he wouldn't have a choice in the matter tonight; Suzette was intent on killing all of them. Trying to stall for time, he decided to talk to Suzette.

"What happened to the guards around the property, Suze?" He asked.

Suzette considered his question, "What the fuck, you're going to be dead soon anyway, I might as well tell you what you want to know. Your precious guards are still alive David; Paul and I took care of them with tranquilizer guns. They shouldn't have to suffer just because they got sucked into your fucked up world," She told him. "You know what? Paul may be an idiot who doesn't know when to stop with the goddamned betting, but he's quiet. Most of the guards never knew what hit them before _they _hit the ground."

"How long will they be out for?" He asked, hoping he could stall her long enough for some of the guys to wake up.

"I loaded the guns with powerful tranquilizers. The sun will be up before they are," Suzette told him as he glanced at the clock on his desk and saw that it read two-fifteen in the morning. Damn! So much for that hope.

While Dave and JJ were in the study with Suzette, Paul went up to Abby's room and entered through the door he had closed before waking her parents. He flicked on the overhead light and watched as she bolted awake. Feeling bad about what was going to happen to her that night, as he had grown to genuinely like the girl, he rushed over to the bed.

"We have a situation Abby and I need you to come with me quickly and quietly," he ordered.

Abby, who was still disoriented from having been awakened so abruptly, wasn't moving. "What?" She asked, "What kind of situation?"

"Suzette and her men have breached the perimeter and they're making their way to the house. Hurry, we don't have much time!" He lied through his teeth.

Abby jumped out of bed, "What about my parents?" She asked in a panic.

"Steve is taking care of them; my orders are to safely escort you to the first floor." Seeing the indecision in her eyes, Paul acted even more intense. "Do you trust me?" He asked and felt his heart break when she immediately nodded. "Good, I need you to trust me enough to follow my directions, okay?"

"Okay," she said as she left the room with him, she had no reason _not _to trust him. She quietly followed him through the darkened hallway and then down the stairs. She was confused when he turned left at the bottom of the staircase instead of right, which would have led them to the front door, but he was the security expert so she would trust his judgment. As they approached the study, Paul stopped and then motioned for her to enter first. When she did, she was momentarily confused at seeing her parents sitting on the couch. Why were they sitting there so calmly if the property was under attack? Why did it her dad have the beginning of a black eye? Why did it look like they were hand cuffed together? Abby pondered these things for a split-second as she walked into the study. Then she saw Suzette and the realization hit her. She turned to bolt out of the room but was stopped by Paul and his gun.

"Sorry Abby but you need to go into the study," the guard told her. She slowly turned around and tried to clear the confusion from her mind. Two minutes ago she'd been sound asleep, and now she was in the study with her parents and two people with guns, one of whom had been entrusted with her life.

As she stepped into the stud she tried going to her parents, but Suzette's voice stopped her from doing so. "I'm so glad you could join us, Abigail," she said sweetly and it made Abby's blood run cold. "Please, have a seat," she said, motioning towards an easy chair that was to the left of the sofa.

Abby didn't know what to do; she was terrified and confused, so she looked at her father and said, "Dad?"

Both of her parents could hear a deep fear in her voice and they wanted to reassure her, so Dave said gently, "It'll be okay, Pumpkin, just sit down."

Suzette gave an evil chuckle, "You shouldn't lie to children David." Then she saw Abby was still standing in her original place. "Abigail, please sit down," Suzanne repeated, this time pointing her gun at JJ. Abby didn't need any more encouragement and she took a seat in the chair that had been indicated. The chair faced inward, so she could fully see her parents and they could see her. As she sat, her parents could see that her eyes were wide with fear and she was shaking. She knew this was it, she knew they were going to die here and it terrified her.

Both Dave and JJ's hearts broke when they saw the expression of horror on their daughter's face. JJ knew their odds of leaving the room alive were slim to none and she only hoped Suzette would make it quick for them, or at least for Abby, but as she gazed into the cold eyes, she knew Suzette would play with them until they died a slow death.

"See honey, _this_ is why you never send a man in to do a woman's job," Suzette told Abby. "I don't know how many times I sent some idiot men to try and get into the house or to get one of you, and each time they came up short, but I made it into the cabin my very first try. For God's sake, that mentally deficient Cajun I sent after your parents couldn't even kill them when they were out in the open! And he was supposed to be an expert marksman!"

As she spoke to the teenager, the deranged woman studied her features, "Good God Dave, she looks just like you! It's almost a shame that I have to kill her; she would have grown up to be a stunning woman."

Abby's eyes widened even more in fear and her face scrunched up, as if she was trying not to cry. Dave saw this and it nearly killed _him_. "You _don't _have to kill her Suze, I'm the one you're after, leave them out of it."

Suzette clucked her tongue and shook her head, "Sorry Davie, but they're a part of it and I can't leave any loose ends. Speaking of loose ends, why don't _you _choose who dies first?"

"What?" Dave whispered in horror. Even this devil incarnate in front of him couldn't be so evil as to make him choose between his girls, could she?

"I said, choose one of them to die, David," she ordered more forcefully this time. "Trust me, if_ I _have to choose it won't be a quick death, I'll make them suffer."

"Me," he said automatically, "Kill me."

"NO!" JJ and Abby cried in unison.

"I have to agree with your wife and daughter, David, you're going to be the _last _one to die, now choose which one!"

Dave felt his sanity slipping away and once again he wanted to howl in rage and frustration; there was no way he could choose one of them to die, he loved them too much. He frantically tried to figure a way out of the situation, but there was none! He looked up at Suzette desperately, "Don't make me choose, Suzette. _Please, _if you ever loved me, don't make me do this!_" _

She shook her head, "Time's up David, I guess it's up to me."

At that moment, Paul, who was still standing behind Abby, stepped forward and clubbed the girl on the back of her head with his gun. Her parents watched in horror as she lost consciousness and slumped forward in her chair.


	62. Chapter 62

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 62

~**Sorry if this chapter is a little disjointed, I had half of it written before a migraine hit me.**

* * *

"NO!" Dave shouted at the same time as his wife cried, "ABBY!" They both struggled to get off of the couch, but Paul turned and trained his gun on them and they stopped.

JJ, terrified that the blow may have killed her daughter, watched her carefully for a moment and was relieved to see her chest rise and fall with regularity. It seemed as though Abby was unconscious, but she was breathing on her own.

As if confirming her thoughts, Paul said, "Don't worry, she's still alive, she's just taking a little nap."

"Why the fuck did you do that?" Suzette screamed, "You're messing up all of my plans!"

"I'm sorry, but I've grown fond of this little girl and she shouldn't have to see all of this. I can't stop you from killing her, but at least this way you can kill her and her parents while she's unconscious. At least this way her last images won't be violent ones."

"Goddammit!" Suzette screamed in rage and then, without a backwards thought, she raised her gun and shot Paul in the head. He was dead before his body hit the floor.

JJ screamed and Dave tried to jump up to help the man but Suzette once again trained her gun on them. "Move again and I'll shoot you both in the kneecaps!" She told them.

They both watched as she tried to mask her fury behind a sweet demeanor again. Once she felt the mask slide into place, she again spoke to JJ and Dave.

"It seems our evening together will last longer than I thought. I would hate for your daughter to miss out on the fun, so we'll just wait here until she wakes up."

Dave felt despair grow even more in the pit of his stomach; he'd hoped that Suzette would kill the two of them while Abby was unconscious and then let her go, but he could see that mercy towards Abby was not part of her plan.

While Suzette was mentally torturing Dave and JJ in the study, outside on the front porch Steve briefly regained consciousness. He wasn't sure why it happened, maybe the tranquilizer reacted with another medication in his system, but whatever the reason, his eyes popped open and he wondered what the hell had happened to him before remembering a pinch in his shoulder before everything had gone black.

Groaning, he tried moving, but he could only get his hands and feet to move a little bit. Stretching his left hand as much as he could, he felt his fingers curl around a familiar item. Hoping it was still working, that he hadn't broken it when he had fallen to the ground, Steve felt the keypad of his cell phone, pressed the number one and smiled when he saw the phone light up.

xxxxxxxxxx

Hotch was asleep in his bedroom when his phone rang. As soon as the shrill ring pierced the room, he heard Emily groan next to him.

"Hit snooze, Aaron," she said, not wanting to leave the comfortable cocoon they had made.

Hotch smiled and pressed as soft kiss to her forehead as he reached for the cell phone. His smile changed to a frown when he looked at the caller ID and realized it was Steve calling him. He quickly flipped the phone open.

"Hotch," he answered and waited for Steve to begin speaking, but all he heard was silence. "Steve, what's wrong?" He asked, and received no answer. Just as he was about to say something else, he heard a moan at the other end of the line and then he heard three short taps, three long taps and then three more short taps. SOS!

"I'm on my way Steve!" Hotch barked into the phone as he jumped out of bed.

"Aaron, what's wrong?" Emily asked as she too got out of the warm bed.

"There's trouble at Rossi's place," he told her as they both jumped into their clothes. "I'm not sure what's going on, but Steve could only moan and tap out SOS on his cell phone." They ran to the front door and Emily grabbed the keys.

"I'll drive while you call in the cavalry," she told him and soon they were speeding down the highway towards Rossi's house.

xxxxxxxxxx

Back in the study, the four occupants sat in silence for a few minutes, before Dave spoke up.

"Why are you doing this, Suzette? Was our marriage so horrible? Did it end so badly that you would do this to me and my family?"

"You poor, naive man; this isn't personal, it's about _money_," she told him. "You threatened my alimony in Philadelphia, David, and I couldn't let that go. I _deserve_ all of the money you give me and more!"

"You deserve it?" Dave asked incredulously, "Why do you think you deserve so much of my hard earned money, Suzette? Let me tell you, the judge thought I was insane for giving you as much as I do! If he'd had his way you'd be getting about a quarter of what I give you!"

"But the judge didn't have to put up with your work, with your life!" The insane woman yelled. "The two years I spent with you were filled with your absences! You were constantly travelling around the country for either your job or your book tours, you were never home! And the few times you _were _home, you were too tired to do anything. My God David, the number of social gatherings I went to alone, and I could hear everyone pitying me!"

"So you're doing all of this because you were unhappy in our marriage? Because I was a bastard?" He asked incredulously.

"You were more than a bastard, David," she told him icily. "When you _were_ home nothing was ever good enough for you, _I_ was never good enough for you! All you ever talked about was Jennifer! I heard about how beautiful she was and how kind she was. You constantly compared me to her and it was too much! It was like you were having an affair with a memory and I couldn't compete with that."

"I'm sorry Suze," Dave said, trying to sound sincere. Maybe if he apologized she would let them go. It was a long shot, but he had to try. "I'm sorry for the way I treated you in our marriage, and I'm sorry for the way I talked to you in Philadelphia. I shouldn't have threatened your alimony, there's no excuse for my behavior."

"No, there isn't, and after you're dead the money will be mine," she told him gleefully.

Frustrated that she still planned to kill them, some of Dave's fear turned to anger. "What do you mean it will all be yours? Do you really think you're _anywhere_ in my will?" He asked with an angry laugh.

"No, I'm sure you left everything to Jennifer and your child, but once they're out of the picture it will be easier to get my hands on the money."

"Good luck with that Suzette. In the whole scheme of things, you're below my sister's cat for getting my fortune! Trust me; I instructed my lawyer to burn my money before giving _any_ of it to you!"

"Enough!" Suzette roared, livid at learning her placement in Dave's will. The room went silent for a minute as Suzette once again tried to school her features into a sweet expression. She tried her best, but it didn't quite work.

"Why wasn't I ever good enough for you, David?" She asked with a hint of desperation in her voice. "What does _she _give you that I didn't?" She glared at JJ as she asked her question.

Going into negotiator mode, Dave said, "Let Abby go, Suze; let her go and I'll tell you anything you want."

"No," the psychotic woman said, pointing her gun at Abby and firing, "You'll tell me now!"

"Jesus CHRIST!" Dave roared as both he and JJ once again struggled to get up from the sofa. Suzette swung her gun towards them, but they paid her no attention. Their first priority was to make sure their daughter was okay.

"No, no, no, no, NO!" JJ said as she saw a blood stain appear on the sleeve of her daughter's upper left arm.

"Both of you sit the fuck back down!" Suzette yelled, "I only nicked her! Those shooting lessons you gave me have come in handy, don't you think?"

The two parents ignored her and continued to try to get to their daughter, but they stopped dead in their tracks when Suzette strolled up to her and placed the barrel of her gun to the teen's head.

"Sit down _now_ or I'll kill her and let the two of you live," she threatened, knowing it would drive her ex-husband and his new wife insane to watch their daughter die. She was right; the two of them quit struggling as soon as she issued her threat.

"Now that we're all calm, you can answer my question David," Suzette told him.

Frantic with worry over his daughter, Dave raked a hand through his hair, "I forgot what the question was," he told her.

"The question, _David,_ is why can you make it work with _her_ and not me? This should all be mine! The house, the kid, the love, it should all be mine!" She shrieked as she waved her gun around. "I tried so hard to make it work with you and I never got anything in return! Every time I talked to you about having children you said you didn't want to, you didn't care what _I_ wanted! Did you ever stop to think that a child would have made _me _happy? When I heard you had a kid my heart nearly broke, and then I saw you in Philadelphia and all I could think of was that should be my child, _our _child! _I_ should have been sitting at that table, not her!" She said, waving the gun at JJ. "What does she do that makes you so happy? What did she do to make you want to have a child?"

"She loves me Suzette, she loves me unconditionally. She loves me on good days and she loves me when I am the biggest bastard in the world, and that happens frequently, but most importantly she loves me for no reason at all and that's something you could never do," he told her, figuring at this point honesty was the best policy. "I constantly had to buy your love when we were married, whether it was jewelry or lavish trips or large houses, your love always came with a price tag and you never genuinely loved me back. You liked the _idea_ of me, you liked having a big, bad FBI agent and famous author on your arm, escorting you to all of the social events of the year, but I was just an accessory and I knew any children we would have had would have been accessories as well." He took a breath and wondered how far he should go and then decided that as long as she was listening to him, she wasn't shooting anyone he loved.

"You wanted a Stepford family Suze, while I wanted the real thing," he continued. "You wanted your kids to be cute and cuddly and then you could ship them off to boarding school and I couldn't have that, I wanted the real thing, a _real_ family! I love my wife and daughter more than anything on the planet because they're genuine. Abby can be whiny and opinionated and she can swear like a sailor and I love it! I love that she lounges around the house in mismatched pajamas, that she sometimes forgets to brush her hair before she leaves the house, that she doesn't an hour to get ready every day. I love that I can be an ass to her in the morning but I still hear her say 'I love you' to me before bed." He looked at his daughter as he said this and fervently hoped they would have many more of those moments in the future.

"I love that JJ doesn't worry about other people's opinions about her, that she cares about other people in our crazy family as much as she cares about me and that she's kind to everyone, from the supermarket checkout girl to the director of the FBI. I love that in the last two years, we've gone to bed angry only three times and I love that she understands me and my little nuances and she accepts them," he gave JJ a soft look as he said this. "In short, our family isn't perfect and I don't want it to be; perfect is boring, but non-perfect keeps us all on our toes."

"Well isn't that touching," Suzette said sarcastically. "David Rossi the perfectionist doesn't want perfect. You sure could have fooled me when _we _were married! _Everything _had to be perfect when we were together otherwise you bitched and moaned for days! I'm so _glad_ to know that your new little family doesn't have to live up to the same expectations _I_ had to!" She shouted, getting angrier with each word.

"I was a different man back then Suze," he told her softly, "I know now what's important."

"Oh, so you have it all figured out, do you? Please tell me-" she stopped her rant and listened, as did Dave and JJ. Sirens could be heard in the distance and they were getting louder with each second.

"That's a shame," Suzette clucked, "It looks like we'll have to cut this short after all," she said as she aimed her gun at JJ. She was a millisecond away from pulling the trigger when she heard a noise behind her.


	63. Chapter 63

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 63

**~Sorry for the short delay and for leaving it on a cliffhanger...I've been battling the a stomach bug for the last few days. FYI, if you're just getting over the stomach flu and you eat a large burrito from Chipotle, it will almost surely cause a relapse. I learned that the hard way.**

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Both Dave and JJ were shocked to see Steve standing in the doorway to the study. He looked half conscious and he could barely stand, much less train his weapon on the sociopathic woman in the center of the room, but his presence created a diversion and when Suzette turned to see who was there, JJ took her one chance.

Whether it was accidental or not, Paul had left some room in her handcuff and JJ wrenched her wrist out of it and lunged at Suzette, knocking them both to the ground. Suzette, who wasn't recovering from a life threatening injury like JJ was, jumped to her feet and was about to kick JJ in the chest when she was knocked back to the ground by Dave. As luck would have it, she fell to the ground right next to her discarded gun. She reached for it with lightning speed, turned onto her back and aimed it at Dave's head.

JJ, who had landed near Paul's gun, grabbed the weapon and fired it. Much like the traitorous security guard, the bullet entered Suzette's head and she was dead within seconds.

"I hope you burn in hell, you bitch," JJ spat as she dropped the gun and hurried to her daughter's side. Dave quickly joined her and they tried waking their daughter.

"Wake up Abby," JJ begged as she lightly slapped her daughter's cheeks, "Please wake up!"

As Dave ripped her pajama sleeve so they could see the extent of the gunshot injury, people began pouring into the room. He breathed a small sigh of relief when he saw that Suzette's estimation of Abby's injury was correct, it looked as though the bullet had only nicked her, it hadn't actually entered her arm.

"Dave! JJ!" Hotch rushed over to where the couple was crouched over their daughter's unconscious body. "Are you all okay?" He asked, knowing they weren't.

Dave shook his head, "JJ and I are, but Abby isn't. She was hit over the head with a gun and was grazed by a bullet. We need an ambulance here, Hotch!" Dave said frantically, wanting to get the needed medical attention for his daughter.

Hotch nodded and beckoned to two uniformed men who had just entered the room. The paramedics hurried over to the unconscious teenager and began assessing her condition. After getting the necessary information from JJ and Dave, the medics brought the stretcher in and started loading Abby on to it. That's when Dave noticed that JJ was breathing rapidly and she looked startlingly pale.

"Jen, I want you to go to the hospital too," he said gently.

JJ looked confused, "Of course I'm going Dave, I'm not leaving her alone."

He shook his head, "No, I want you to go in another ambulance, I want you to get checked out in the ER as well."

"I'm fine David, I need to be with our daughter right now," she said, barely keeping the hysteria at bay.

"Jen please," Dave said hoarsely, "After making it through the horror of tonight, I couldn't bear it if something happened to you."

JJ's expression softened, but she still shook her head. "I promise I'll let the doctors take a look at me in the ER, but I'm riding in the ambulance with Abby," she said firmly. "Are you coming with us, or are you going to ride in with Hotch?"

"I'm coming with you," he said as he stood next to her and the gurney that held their daughter. "Hotch?" He asked, turning back to look at his friend, "Can you and the rest of the team take care of everything here?" He'd seen Reid enter the study and he assumed Morgan and Garcia weren't too far behind.

Hotch nodded, "Just take care of your family Dave, I'll meet up with you at GW Hospital later on." Dave gave the man a look of thanks and then walked with the stretcher to the ambulance.

Because of the early hour and the siren, they encountered virtually no traffic on the way to the hospital and they made it there in nearly record time. As JJ, Dave and the paramedics rolled Abby into the fairly quiet ER, they were greeted by Abby's neurologist, Dr. Shipley.

"Dr. Shipley!" JJ exclaimed surprised, "What are you doing here?"

The doctor explained as he walked with the group, more than half of whom were in their pajamas. "I received a call from an Agent Hotchner. He told me that Abby had received another blow to the head and since I'm the neurologist on call tonight, I thought I would come down and check it out instead of waiting for the ER resident to call me." The Rossi family was familiar with Dr. Shipley, since he was the neurologist who had taken care of Abby when she had sustained a concussion two years earlier.

Once they got Abby settled into a room, a nurse came in to help Dr. Shipley assess Abby. They looked in her eyes and ears, they tested her automatic reflexes and they listened to her breathing before Dr. Shipley finally turned to Dave and JJ to give his diagnosis.

"I'm going to send her up for a CT scan, but my guess is that she has another concussion. Everything looks well with her eyes, there's no evidence of blood or cerebrospinal fluid in her ears and she's breathing on her own. All in all, I'm not too worried." While they were speaking, the nurse was getting Abby into a hospital gown and both of her parents saw both the wound on her arm and flinched.

Still staring at the painful looking injury to his daughter's arm, Dave asked, "Why hasn't she regained consciousness yet?"

"Agent Hotchner explained some of the situation to me and he said Abby hasn't been sleeping much over the past month due to a threat you've all been under?" Dave nodded. "My guess is that part of her unconsciousness is her body's way of getting some much needed rest. Since everything else looks good, I'm not too worried about her being unconscious. If she isn't wake by tomorrow afternoon, then there will be cause for concern, but don't worry about it for now."

"She had a seizure with her last concussion, are you worried about that with this one?" JJ asked.

"It _is_ a concern and that's why I would like to keep her here for at least a day," Dr. Shipley told them. "If she doesn't have one by noon on Sunday, I'll release her then, okay?" Both JJ and Dave nodded. "Normally there's a wait for the CT machine, but since she's unconscious, Abby has been bumped to the front of the line, so I'm going to have the nurses take her up right now. Once she's done up there, we'll bring her back down to have her arm stitched and then we'll get her into her own room."

"Thanks Doc," he said and then turned to his wife. "Since we can't go with Abby to the CT scanner, it seems like now would be the perfect time to let the ER docs check you over."

JJ was going to argue, but when she saw the look on her husband's face, she knew it would be futile so she reluctantly agreed to be examined. Once she got a clean bill of health, she and Dave waited in Abby's exam room and prayed she would be okay.

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Four hours later, Abby gradually became aware of her surroundings. As she slowly regained consciousness she could feel pain in both her head and her left arm and she could hear someone breathing in her ear. Along with that, she felt someone holding her left hand and she felt another hand resting on her right hip. She slowly opened her eyes and saw that she was in a hospital room and it was light out. She glanced to her right and saw her mother curled up next to her in the hospital bed and she was asleep. She looked to her left and saw her father sitting in an uncomfortable looking chair and he was watching her intently. She could see that his right eye had been blackened and he looked like he had aged ten years.

"Hey," he said softly, looking into her eyes. He was afraid that she would shut down the way she had after Will's attack, that she would go back into the scary, introverted state she had been in and if that happened, he wasn't sure what would bring her out of it.

"Hey," she said back to him, giving his hand a squeeze. While there was confusion and fear in her eyes, there was no sign of the vacant expression which had accompanied her shutdown in New York and Dave was relieved. He got up from his chair and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, barely holding back his tears of gratitude that she was still alive.

"How are you feeling?" He asked as he sat back down. He clung to her hand like it was a lifeline and Abby could feel his hand shaking slightly.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Do you remember anything?" He asked carefully.

Abby scrunched her head in thought and then all of the memories from the night rushed into her head. "I…I remember Suzette…and the study…and Paul," she said as tears trickled out of her eyes. "I remember that Suzette was going to kill us, that she was going to make you ch-choose and then everything is blank." Dave watched as the events from the night played in his daughter's mind and he knew if he let her dwell on them too long, she _would_ shut down again so he talked to her.

"But we're okay Pumpkin, we got out," Dave told her as he put his other hand around hers and rubbed it.

"Paul was a traitor, wasn't he?" Abby asked softly.

Dave reluctantly nodded; he knew this wasn't going to help Abby with her numerous trust issues. "He was, but I think he was desperate for money. In the end he tried to help you by not having you witness anything, and it was his gun that killed Suzette."

"So she's dead?" Abby asked, hoping against hope that her father's ex-wife was in hell where she belonged.

Dave nodded, "Your mother took her down."

Abby looked at her sleeping mother, "Mom shouldn't be here, she should be resting in her own bed; she's still recovering."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Dave chuckled. "I tried telling her that and the doctors tried telling her that, but there was nothing that was going to keep her away from you."

Abby gave a small smile and grew quiet again. Dave let her think about things for a few minutes before he spoke again.

"What's going on in that mind of yours, Pumpkin? How are you handling all of this?"

"Honestly?" She asked and he nodded. "I really, REALLY want to shut down like I did in New York, but I'm trying hard not to. I'm just so overloaded right now, I…I don't want to think about it." She cleared her throat and changed the subject, "What's wrong with me? Why does my head hurt so much? Why does it hurt when I move my arm?"

"You have a concussion from when Paul hit you," he told her and she groaned.

"Why does it always have to be my head that gets hurt? I'll be lucky if you and mom don't make me wear a helmet after this!"

Dave smiled, more at the fact that his daughter made a joke, rather than at the joke itself. "Your arm hurts because you were grazed by a bullet, but it didn't go into your arm so you didn't need surgery; all you have are twelve stitches."

Abby really didn't want to what happened that caused her to be grazed by a bullet, but her curiosity began to get the best of her and she was about to ask her dad about it when a nurse walked in with a syringe.

"How's your head Abby?" She asked, "If you want it, you can have another shot for the pain."

Abby's head was really beginning to throb, so she told the nurse she wanted the shot, and she watched as it was injected into her IV. Soon after that she fell back to sleep, knowing she would have a lot do deal with later on, but not caring at the moment.


	64. Chapter 64

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 64

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The next time Abby awoke, the room was much brighter and she didn't have another presence next to her in the narrow hospital bed. She looked to her right and saw her mother sitting in one of the uncomfortable hospital chairs and she was staring out the window as if she was in her own little world. Abby took the opportunity to study her. Like her father, JJ also looked as though she had aged many years over night. Did she always have those faint lines around her mouth, Abby wondered, or had they sprung up in the past month? Whatever the answer, not only did her mother look older, she looked tired and pale and Abby wished she would go somewhere and rest since she was still recuperating from her own injuries.

JJ, who had been staring out the window wondering if her family would be able to get past the events of the previous night and month, felt someone watching her and a gentle smile overtook her face when she saw that her daughter was awake.

"Morning honey," she said as she kissed her daughter on the cheek.

"What time is it?" Abby asked, disoriented from a combination of the events of the previous night, the pain medicine she'd been given and her concussion. She pushed the button on her bed and maneuvered herself into more of a upright position.

"It's nine in the morning," JJ told her. She wasn't too alarmed at her daughter's disorientation since the same thing had happened when she'd had a concussion a few years earlier.

"You're in your pajamas," she said, confused.

"We left the house pretty quickly and I didn't have time to change," JJ explained.

"What-what day is it?" Abby asked, feeling like an idiot.

"It's Saturday," JJ said, never losing her gentle tone. Like her husband, she was terrified Abby would revert back to the frightening, introverted and nearly catatonic state she'd gone into after the attack by Will in New York and she would do anything to prevent it from happening.

"So…everything happened last night?" She asked surprised. The terror she'd felt in the study with both Suzette and Paul pointing guns at her and her parents felt like it had happened both an hour ago and a year ago.

JJ picked up her hand and held it, "Last night and early this morning...at around two this morning to be exact." She watched as Abby processed everything and wasn't too surprised to see tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes. She wasn't sobbing, or even crying hard, but those silent tears cut JJ's heart. She gave her daughter's hand a gentle squeeze and asked, "How are you doing sweetheart?"

Abby pulled her hand from her mother's grip so she could wipe the tears from her cheeks, "I don't know," she said honestly as JJ handed her a Kleenex from the bedside table. "Part of me wants to break down and cry like there's no tomorrow, but I'm so sick of crying and I know it will make my head feel worse. Another part of me really wants to pull back into myself, to just shut down like I did in New York."

"Abby, honey-" JJ tried interrupting, but Abby held up her hand to stop her.

"I said I _want_ to but I'm trying hard not to, it's just…well, when I did that in New York, I was safe, I didn't have to constantly think about what had happened or talk about it, I could replay it in my head and deal with it on my own."

"But it's not healthy to do that," JJ told her, "Plus, you scared the hell out of everyone when you did that."

"I know, and that's why I'm trying _really _hard not to do it now, even though I know it means we'll be talking about it. But mom? Since I'm dealing with it instead of retreating into my own mind, I want to know everything that happened," Abby told her.

JJ looked puzzled, "Okay Abby, but _I'm _not quite sure what happened last night."

"I know," Abby told her, "But eventually we'll find out and I know dad's going to want to keep some of the details from me, but I want to know everything you guys do. This happened to me too, and I don't want to be kept in the dark."

JJ thought about her request for a minute and finally nodded her agreement, "Okay honey, I'll make sure your dad doesn't keep anything from you, from _either _of us." From her own experience with talking to victims, JJ knew that any gaps in her daughter's memory would make her mental recovery much more difficult.

"Is Suzette really dead?" Abby asked softly.

JJ nodded, "She is."

"Were you really the one who killed her?"

"I was," JJ said firmly and unapologetically. "She was going after me and my family and I couldn't have that."

Abby looked at her in awe, "I can't believe you were able to do that while still getting over your _own_ gunshot wound!"

JJ smiled, she'd been afraid that Abby would look at her differently knowing she'd taken a life right there in the middle of the cabin and she was glad her daughter was treating her normally. "No one fucks with my family and gets away with it."

Abby laughed softly, "You sound just like dad."

"Who sounds like me?" Dave asked from the doorway; his daughter's laughter, no matter how quiet and subdued, was music to his ears.

"Mom was doing her best 'David Rossi, protective papa bear' imitation," Abby told him as he came into the room.

Dave smiled as he handed JJ a Starbucks coffee cup and kept one for himself, "After last night, I think she has me beat for most protective."

Abby just stared at her parents for a minute, "What?" Dave asked, a little nervous under her gaze, since he wasn't exactly sure what was going through her mind at that moment.

"What about me?" She asked, nodding at the coffee cups.

"Are you kidding?" He asked, "I'm not going to give my concussed daughter a huge cup of caffeinated coffee. With everything you have running through your system, God knows what a jolt of caffeine would do to you."

"Your dad's right Abby," Dr. Shipley said as he entered the room. "Coffee would definitely _not_ help your headache."

After the three of them greeted the neurologist, he sat down and gave them a rundown on Abby's condition.

"Much like the last time, Abby has a concussion from a blow to the back of her head, but this concussion is not as severe as the last one. In fact, I would classify her current concussion as mild."

"Why did it take her so long to wake up?" JJ asked.

"Like we discussed last night, I suspect a part of it was due to Abby's lack of sleep for the past few weeks. Whoever struck Abby knew exactly where to do it since the blow wasn't too hard, it was simply done in just the right place to render her unconscious," the doctor told them.

"Is the treatment the same as last time?" Dave asked.

Dr. Shipley nodded, "She should take it easy for the next week or so; her activity level should be kept light. Also, she will be tired and dizzy, so she'll want to rest as much as possible." Remembering the patient was in the room, he turned to Abby, "Since you had a seizure with your previous concussion, I want to keep you hear until tomorrow morning in case you have another one. I also want to start you on oral pain medicine instead of the IV stuff. The oral meds will make you less loopy. Is that okay with you?"

Abby nodded and the doctor got up from the chair and began moving toward the door, "I'll be back to check on you later this afternoon, but feel free to page me with any questions that come up." With that, the doctor left the room and Dave got up and followed him.

"Hey Doc," he said, as the doctor noted his daughter's chart on a small desk outside of the room. "Is she okay to travel?"

Dr. Shipley's brow furrowed, "How long are we talking?"

Dave thought for a minute, "A two and a half hour flight and then an hour long car ride."

Dr. Shipley nodded, "That should be fine but wherever you take her she needs to be within ten miles of a hospital, just in case something happens while she's recovering."

"No problem," Dave said and then caught a glimpse of his best friend and unit chief standing at the end of the hallway. "If you'll excuse me," he said to the doctor and then walked down the hallway. As he approached Hotch, he could see the exhaustion on his friend's face and he wondered if he'd gotten any sleep the previous night.

"Hotch, what's up?" Dave asked.

"Hey Dave, how're you holding up? How are JJ and Abby?" Hotch asked, motioning him towards a small waiting area. Dave entered and saw the entire team assembled.

"They're both doing okay," he said. "The doctor said JJ didn't experience any setbacks from last night, and Abby has a mild concussion. They're going to keep her here until tomorrow to make sure she doesn't have a seizure like last time."

"That's great Dave," Derek said and the other's nodded.

Hotch started an abbreviated debriefing for Dave, knowing that the man was anxious to get back to his family. "Okay, the first thing we want to talk to you about is Suzette. We found her laptop in her car, which was parked about a mile from the cabin. Garcia combed through it and it appears she called off all of the hits she put out on you and your family. She told all of them she wanted to take care of the problem herself and she compensated them well, so-"

"So we're out of danger?" Dave asked, hardly daring to believe it.

Hotch nodded, "It looks that way; using her internet habits and history, Garcia searched for any new threats against you and didn't find any and neither did the rest of us."

"Thank God," Dave whispered. "What about the guards? How are they?"

"Suzette was telling the truth about that," Hotch told him. "They were all sedated with heavy tranquilizers; our guess is that Paul helped Suzette get inside of the perimeter and then they launched a sneak attack against the guards. All nine of them were treated and released in the ER last night."

"If everyone was sedated, who in the hell called the cops? Have you been holding out on us Hotch? Are you psychic?" Dave's question drew laughter from his team members and the mood in the room lightened a bit.

"No, Steve regained consciousness earlier than the others, the doctors said a medication he takes for his thyroid reacted with the tranquilizer and it made it less effective. He wasn't able to talk to me, but he tapped out SOS on his phone. I called the cops and the rest of the team," Hotch told him. "By the way, Steve feels entirely responsible for what happened. He was talking about refunding your money and then getting a job at McDonalds. Apparently he doesn't think he's cut out for the security world."

"That's bullshit; you tell him he did a great job and I won't accept a dime of a refund. He couldn't help it that Paul was a turncoat, hell _we _didn't catch that in all of our vetting," Dave told him.

"Sir," Garcia said nervously, "That's my f-"

"No," Dave interrupted, "It's not your fault Garcia and my remark was not meant as jab at you. I'm guessing Paul kept that side of his life hidden and it's not as though bookies report to the credit bureaus. He looked great on paper, hell I reviewed all of your vetting files and the guy looked good to me, good enough to put my daughter's life in his hands. I don't want you to feel bad about this for a second, got it?"

Penelope smiled, "Got it."

"Good," he said and turned back to Hotch, "Is there anything else?"

"Strauss wants statements from you and JJ, but that can wait until Abby's out of the hospital," Hotch told him. "We're going back to the cabin; since two people are dead and many others were injured, it's going to take awhile for the local PD to process the scene and I want to make sure it's done right."

"Thanks guys, if that's all, I'm going to get back to my daughter's room. You guys can come by later if you want, I just don't want to overwhelm her right now." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the elevator doors opened and his mother, brother and two of his sisters poured into the waiting room.

"Davie!" Marie cried, rushing to her eldest son. She engulfed him in a hug that seemed to last forever.

"Hey ma," he said softly.

She finally pulled away from him and looked him over, "Are you all right?" She asked, gently probing his black eye.

"I'm fine ma, just a little banged up."

"What about JJ and Abby, how are they?" Anna asked.

"JJ's okay, and Abby has a concussion, but it's nothing serious," Dave told them. "Look, I've gotta get back to Abby's room, I'm going to let Hotch fill you in on everything and then I'll come back to get you guys, okay?"

His family nodded, so he took turned to go back to his daughter's room. Before he got too far, he heard Emily call his name. He turned around and she tossed a small duffel bag to him. "There's a change of clothes for you and JJ in there," she told him, glancing at the t-shirt and flannel pajama pants he was currently wearing.

"Thanks Prentiss," Dave said and then continued down the hallway. He arrived at his daughter's room just in time to hear an argument between her and her mother.

"I don't care, this is disgusting! How can _anyone_ call this Eggs Benedict? And why would a hospital even _try_ making it? And the smell from the sausage next to it is making me nauseous!" Abby exclaimed, pushing the offending tray away from her.

"You have to eat Abby! I saw your stomach when they were changing you into your gown in the ER and you're skin and bones! I know the last month has been stressful and you haven't been hungry, but you've got to start eating again. Plus, you need food to take your pain pill."

"But mom," Abby whined, "This is horrible! I can't even look at the eggs without wanting to puke, much less eat them! How about I eat the fruit and toast so I can take my pain pill and then I promise I'll eat whatever you put in front of me once I'm out of here."

JJ, whose own hospital stay was fresh in her mind, nodded her agreement, "Okay, but you have to eat _everything_ we put in front of you, agreed?"

Abby, who would have agreed to anything in order to get out of eating the disgusting hospital meal, nodded her head, "Agreed," she said as she picked up the toast and began eating it.

Dave chuckled as he came back into the room, "That was an interesting negotiation," he said, sure that if he'd been in on the discussion, Abby would have been eating the entire meal right now.

"Hey dad, want some eggs?" Abby asked.

Dave looked at the plate and automatically made a face, "No thanks," he said taking a drink of his lukewarm coffee as he sat down.

"What took you so long?" JJ asked, wondering where he'd been.

"The team stopped by and gave me a short debriefing," he told her.

"What'd they say?" JJ asked, not sure if she wanted to know the details, but like her daughter she knew she had to know everything.

"We'll talk about it later," Dave said casually, glancing at Abby.

She was about to say something when JJ jumped in, "No Dave, I promised her we would tell her everything. I told her we wouldn't keep anything from her in order to protect her."

Dave looked at his determined wife and his equally determined daughter and sighed, he didn't think it was the best idea, but Abby was a part of this and if she wanted to know, he'd tell her. Before he could speak, Abby spoke up.

"Was it…was last night my fault?" She asked softly, with tears in her voice.

"What?" Dave asked, thinking he'd misheard her. Why would she think it's her fault?

"Were they able to get in the way I got out? Did they see me leave on Saturday and discover the same security hole I did?" She wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer, and she was greatly relieved when she saw her dad shake his head.

"No Pumpkin, this was in no way your fault. From what Garcia found on Suzette's laptop, she and Paul had been planning this for awhile and she used Paul's access and knowledge of the property to carry out her plan."

"Okay," Abby whispered, barely holding back her tears. She was greatly relieved to find out that she wasn't responsible for the previous night's events.

"Why don't we talk about this later. Right now there is a waiting room full of family members waiting to see you, and I'm sure you're going to want to take another nap soon," Dave told Abby, and then turned to JJ, "And Emily brought clothes for us, so we can change out of our pajamas."

"Thank God," JJ said. While Dave had been fine with going to the hospital Starbucks in his pajamas, JJ was too embarrassed to leave Abby's room in hers.

"Once we're changed I'll go let my mother know she can come back here, okay?"

"Okay dad," Abby said, looking forward to seeing her grandmother.

While her parents took turns changing in her bathroom, Abby ate her dry toast and tried not to think too hard about the previous night.


	65. Chapter 65

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 65

~Wow, so I've been nominated in a bunch of categories for the Profilers Choice CM Awards! I didn't really expect it and I am truly honored by it, so thanks to everyone who nominated me!

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An hour later, Abby had been fussed over to within an inch of her life. Her grandmother acted as if she hadn't seen her in two years, when in reality it had been less than two weeks and from the amount of pillow fluffing and drink getting, one would think she'd been critically injured instead of just having a minor concussion. From the moment Marie had come into the room she had commandeered her granddaughter's attention and when she didn't have it, one of Abby's aunts would take over.

Understandably, since they had been receiving threats from Suzette and her men, Dave's family wanted to know what had happened and what was currently going on. They were all greatly relieved to find out that Suzette and her threats were dead and they didn't have to worry about her anymore. While they were relieved to learn of Suzette's demise, they all wished it hadn't come about the way it did. Dave's siblings were shocked to see how much older and exhausted Dave looked after dealing with the stress of the past month, while Marie was worried about how the family would survive the constant hits it had taken. She knew her son would try to fix everything, usually without consulting anyone else, and she knew that wouldn't fly with his wife and daughter. Hopefully he had learned a few things over the past few years and would be able to better communicate with his loved ones instead of riding rough shod over everything.

Abby, who had grown progressively tired as the day went on, had fallen fast asleep in her bed, oblivious to the numerous adults in the room. Marie had brought one of Abby's favorite blankets from her townhouse, one the two of them had knitted together, and she was curled up in it.

"So how are the three of you _really_ doing?" Cathy asked her brother, once she saw that Abby was asleep.

Dave sighed, "What can I tell you Cath? It's been a rough month, but we're doing okay."

"And you JJ, how have you been? Are you healing all right?" Cathy asked.

JJ nodded, "The doctor came to the cabin the other day to check on me and he told me I was doing much better than expected. He said I could probably return to work by the end of May, but I might take a sabbatical until September so I can spend time with Abby over the summer before she starts college in the fall."

"And what about Abby?" Dave's brother John asked. "She's gone through a lot over this past month, how is she handling it?"

Dave sighed again, "Not great. Behavior wise she's been fine, other than a teenage rebellion last weekend, but she's been having nightmares and she hasn't been herself. Each day I see her slipping a little further away from us."

"We're going to have her talk to a therapist and hopefully they can help her. Plus, we'll be here for her anytime she wants to talk," JJ told him.

"She's already fighting us on the therapist thing though," Dave told his siblings and they all grinned.

"Looks like she inherited that from you, big brother," Anna told him.

It was a well-known fact that Dave would rather be locked in a closet with Erin Strauss for a week than talk to a shrink for an hour.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Dave said, "I wouldn't-" His words were cut off by a frantic scream from his daughter.

Abby sat bolt upright in bed as she fought off an invisible intruder. "NO! NO! God no, you can't do that!" She yelled, still asleep. Both Dave and JJ rushed over to her.

"Wake up Abby!" JJ commanded, knowing that all of her thrashing around wasn't good for her head.

"Nooooooooo!" Abby practically howled, still fighting.

Dave wrapped her in a tight bear hug, pinning her arms to her side, "Wake up right now, Abigail!" He ordered, but she still fought.

"Why are you doing this?" She wailed as tears poured down her cheeks. "NO!"

"Little One, wake up!" Marie practically begged, tears forming in her own eyes.

As Dave held her in his embrace and rocked her, and JJ stroked her hair, Abby slowly began to come out of her nightmare. "Dad?" She asked confused, "Where are we?"

"At the hospital," he replied gently.

"But…"

"You're safe, honey," JJ told her, "It was just a bad dream."

As Abby began to remember where she was, she scrunched her eyes shut in embarrassment. "God, I can't believe I did that in front of everyone," she said, turning red. Thankful that she was still in her dad's arms, she buried her face in his chest.

"Why are you embarrassed, Little One?" Marie asked, matter-of-factly. "You had a bad dream, so what? You're with your family, there's nothing to be embarrassed about."

Abby peeked over her father's shoulder and saw that her uncle and aunts nodding in agreement and she felt slightly less stupid.

"You wanna tell us what it was about?" Dave asked as he gently laid her back down in her bed.

She shook her head, "Not really."

"Do you want to go back to sleep?" JJ asked, knowing she needed her sleep.

"God no!" Abby told her, shaking her head and then wincing at the pain the movement caused. She pushed the button on the bed to raise the head of the bed so she was in more of a sitting position and tried to shake off the vivid dream.

xxxxxxxxxx

The rest of the morning and afternoon passed quickly for Abby and her parents. Marie stayed at the hospital while John, Anna and Cathy both left in the early afternoon for work reasons. The occupants of the room passed the time by watching some of the many movies Marie had brought with her. They started with _Mary Poppins_ and moved on to _The Sound of Music_. By the time _The Princess Diaries_ was three-quarters finished, Dave thought he might jump out the window in order to put himself out of his misery.

Before he resorted to drastic measures, the food cart came by and the nutritionist set a covered tray in front of Abby. "Bon appétit," she said, before leaving the room.

Wrinkling her nose at the smell of the food, Abby asked her dad, "What do you think it is?"

"I don't have x-ray vision Pumpkin, so I don't know what it is; why don't you take the cover off and find out?" He asked her.

"Because the smell alone is making me sick and I'm scared to see what's causing the odor," Abby told him.

With a sigh, Dave removed the cover from her tray and stared down at the awful looking food, "Good God," he breathed.

"There is _no way_ I'm eating that!" Abby said firmly, crossing her arms across her chest.

"It doesn't look too bad honey," he lied, "It's lasagna; you love lasagna," Dave said, as if reminding her would convince her to eat the questionable looking food.

"That is _not_ lasagna David," Marie said from behind him. She was staring at Abby's supper with a look of horror and disgust on her face. "_That_ is a sin against nature!"

Dave rolled his eyes at his mother's dramatics, now he knew where his daughter got it from. He was about to respond when a new voice piped up from the doorway of the room. "I completely agree Marie," Emily said, holding two large brown bags. She entered the room and set the bags down on the small table near the window. Hotch followed, carrying two drink trays filled with sodas.

"Is that…is that Five Guys?" Abby asked, trying not to get her hopes up in case it wasn't. She hadn't had her favorite hamburger since before the whole ordeal had begun and she was drooling in anticipation.

Emily nodded and began taking out hamburgers. She handed one to Abby and said, "No cheese, barbeque sauce and extra pickles and onions, right?"

She nodded and gratefully accepted the burger and the pile of fries her uncle put on her bedside tray. He then put a cup of soda on the tray and watched as his niece tore into the burger like there was no tomorrow.

Everyone in the room grinned at the way Abby was wolfing down her early supper and they all began eating theirs as well. Once they were finished, Marie put one of the _Twilight _movies into the DVD player and Dave had to hold back a groan; he knew his brain would leak out of his ear if he had to watch one more teen movie.

Hotch picked up on his friend's distress and saved him, "Do you guys mind if I borrow Dave for a minute? I need his advice on something."

"Go ahead," JJ said with a wave of her hand, obviously engrossed in the drama on the screen. Dave got up and headed for the door with Emily following behind him; like Dave and Hotch, she could do without seeing the hunky teen vampires.

"Thanks man, I was getting ready to poke something sharp into my eye," Dave told his friend.

"I'm with you," Hotch agreed. "Anyway, I wanted to let you know that the local PD is pretty much finished at the cabin, but you might want to get a cleaning crew in there before bringing the girls home."

Dave winced at the thought, "God, you're right, the study has probably seen better days and I'm guessing the boys in blue weren't too careful in going through the house."

"They weren't too bad," Hotch told him, "But the study definitely needs some work."

"I'll call a cleaning crew to come on Monday. I'm not in too much of a hurry since I'm taking Abby and Jen out of town for a couple of days."

"Where are you going?" Emily asked.

"A buddy of mine from Chicago owns a cabin on Lake Michigan in northern Wisconsin and I'm going to take them there." Dave told them, "The cabin is rustic and secluded and it will give us a chance to calm down from everything that happened; we have a lot to get past and I don't think we can do it in Little Creek. I really wanted to take them back to Hawaii, but their doctors wouldn't sign off on that long of a plane ride, so Wisconsin will have to do."

"Sounds nice, have you let the girls in on your plan yet?" Hotch asked.

Dave shook his head, "No but I'm sure Jen will be on board with it and Abby still has a week left of her spring break, so I don't think she'll have many objections." Unlike most high schools, Abby's school gave the students two weeks for their spring break by pushing the end of the semester out a week later.

"I'll be on board with what?" JJ asked as she stepped into the hallway. "What's going on?"

"I was just telling Hotch and Em that I want to take you and Abby to a friend's cabin in northern Wisconsin. It's right on the water and it's relaxing and peaceful."

"I don't know Dave," JJ said hesitantly, "What if something happens to Abby during her recovery?"

"I already talked to her doctor, and to yours, and the only requirement is that we stay within ten miles of a hospital," he told her. "Come on Jen, we need to get over what happened and I think the best way to do that is with a change of scenery, don't you?"

She thought for a minute and then nodded, "You're right."

He smiled, "I'm glad you agree, I'll see if Derek and Garcia will stop by the cabin tomorrow and pack us some clothing and other stuff; our flight to Green Bay leaves at five tomorrow evening."

"Don't forget to come by BAU headquarters before you leave so you can give your statements to Strauss, she'll have my head if you don't," Hotch said.

Dave groaned, "I forgot about that. Don't worry, we'll be there."

"Good," Hotch nodded, "I think Emily and I are going to head home, we both need to get a good night's sleep."

JJ and Dave thanked them for all of their help and the couple stepped into the elevator while Dave and JJ went back into Abby's room. They were surprised to see that the DVD had been paused and that Abby and Marie were looking at them expectantly.

"What?" JJ asked nervously. It was never a good thing when her daughter and grandmother conspired together, if they put their minds to it, she had no doubt they could take over a small country. If they threw Garcia into the mix, the world would be theirs.

"We've made a decision," Abby said firmly.

"About what?" Dave asked hesitantly.

"You and Jennifer will be going back to my townhouse tonight," Marie told him.

Dave shook his head, "No way ma, I'm not leaving Abby."

"_We're_ not leaving Abby," JJ corrected.

"You both are exhausted, you haven't slept in days and you've had an emotionally draining thing happen to you, you both need sleep," Marie argued.

"But ma, we can't leave Abby alone, not with her nightmares," Dave nearly whined.

"She's not going to be alone, I'll stay with her." Marie remained firm in her argument. "Besides, your wife is still recovering from her own injuries, do you really think it's good for her to doze in a chair all night?"

"I'm fine sleeping in a chair," JJ told her, "It's only for one more night."

"Look guys," Abby spoke up, "I'm going to be knocked out on pain meds tonight so I'm not even going to know you're missing; just go to Nonna's and get some real sleep!"

"But Abby-" Dave started.

"Dad," she interrupted, "Don't you want me to feel better?" She asked in a sad voice.

"Of course I do Pumpkin," he said soothingly.

"Well it will make me feel better to know that you and mom are getting some solid sleep," she told him with puppy dog eyes.

Dave felt his resolve melting, he never could resist her guilt trips and she knew it. "Okay, you two win, we'll go back to the townhouse."

"Dave!" JJ exclaimed.

"What? They're right, you _shouldn't _be sleeping in a chair all night."

She sighed, "Fine, you win, let's go."

They gathered up their things, kissed their daughter goodbye and headed for the door, promising to return by eight o'clock the next morning. Once they were out of the room, Abby and Marie breathed twin sighs of relief and resumed their movie.

A nurse came in an hour later and gave Abby a shot. Ten minutes later she fell into a heavy sleep and Marie prayed she would stay asleep, that she wouldn't have any more of those horrible nightmares.

* * *

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	66. Chapter 66

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 66

**~We're almost there, just one more review to make 400...come on, you know you want to be the one to write the 400th review!**

* * *

True to their word, Dave and JJ returned to the hospital at eight o'clock sharp the next morning, bringing bagels and juice with them. They were somewhat surprised to find both Abby and Marie wide awake and watching television.

"How'd it go last night?" Dave asked as he set the bag of pastries on the bedside table.

"Fine," Abby said, shooting her grandmother a look. Dave missed visual exchange, but JJ didn't and she knew at once that Abby must have had a rough night but didn't want to worry them. She mentally sighed and wondered how long it would take before her daughter would be able to sleep through the night.

The next two hours went by quickly. The occupants of the room ate a light breakfast while watching DVD's of the TV show _The Office, _which was the only show the four of them could agree on. After that, Marie left so she could get some quality sleep and then Dr. Shipley came in to do a final check of Abby's neurological status.

"Well Abby, considering this is your second concussion in as many years, you're doing pretty well. How's the headache?" He asked.

Abby considered the question, "It's still there but it's not the worst one I've ever had."

He nodded, "Well, since you seem to be functioning normally, I have no problem discharging you. Just remember, the dizziness will get worse before it gets better and you shouldn't be by yourself for the next couple of days, just in case you have a seizure."

"Don't worry about that," Dave muttered, "After all we've gone through, she'll be lucky if I let her out of my sight before she's forty."

Abby rolled her eyes, especially when she saw her mother nod in agreement, but deep down she was glad she wouldn't be alone for awhile; when she was alone she was able to really think about things and she wasn't ready to do that yet.

"Do you have any questions for me?" The doctor asked. Abby shook her head, so he continued, "I want to see you on Friday and at that appointment we'll discuss when you can return to school."

Abby's eyes narrowed, "What do you mean? My spring break ends in a week and I'll be returning to school then," she said firmly.

"Abby," JJ said warningly, "You'll return to school when the doctor says you can."

The teen shook her head, "No way! I've already missed three weeks of school and I'm not missing any more! I don't care if my brain starts leaking out of my nose, I _will_ be returning to school next Monday."

Trying to head off an argument between mother and daughter, Dr. Shipley stepped in, "You'll most likely be able to return to school with your friends, I just wanted to put it out there in case you can't, okay?"

She stared at him for a moment just to be sure he wasn't placating her, "Fine," she finally agreed.

"Good," the doctor said. "I'm going to start your discharge paperwork and we'll have you out of here within an hour." With that, the doctor left the room.

"I'm going to go check on a couple of things while your mother helps you get dressed, Pumpkin," Dave said, taking his cell phone from his pocket.

"Okay," Abby said as he left the room. With her mother's help, she stood and slowly changed from the horrible hospital gown into a pair of jeans and a sweater she kept in her room at her grandmother's house. Once she was in normal clothes again, she felt a hundred times better and she sat on her bed as she and her mother waited for the doctor to arrive to give them the pain medicine for her head and the antibiotics for the bullet graze in her arm. To Abby's surprise, a different doctor stepped into her room.

"Abigail?" He asked, "I'm Doctor Jackson." Abby wondered what kind of doctor he was since he looked fairly young and he was dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt. He soon cleared up the mystery, "I'm a psychiatrist and I'm here to talk to you."

"I'm just going to go check on Abby's discharge paperwork," JJ murmured as she rose from her chair. Abby glared at her as she left the room, the phrase 'rat deserting a sinking ship' going through her mind.

"How are you doing Abigail?" The doctor asked as he sat in JJ's vacated chair.

"I'm fine, thank you," she said politely. What she really wanted to do was tell the doctor to leave her the hell alone, but the goddamn manners her mother and both grandmothers had drilled into her wouldn't allow her to be rude to him.

"Really?" Dr. Jackson asked as he glanced at the file in front of him, "It sounds like you've had a rough couple of weeks."

"I have," Abby told him, struggling to keep her calm demeanor in place, "But it hasn't affected me."

"From what I've heard, you've had a couple of nightmares since you were admitted."

Abby felt her polite demeanor slip, "How did you hear about that?" She asked angrily; wasn't anything private anymore?

"The nurses told me," he said pleasantly.

"Isn't that a violation of HIPAA laws or something?"

Dr. Jackson chuckled, "Nope, it's only a violation when information is shared outside of the medical realm. Since your information was shared between medical professionals, it was totally legit. Not to mention, the nurses had your parent's approval to speak to me."

"Great," Abby muttered, she wasn't even out of the hospital yet and her parents were turning on her.

"Abigail, you've had a traumatic month and you should talk to someone about it," Dr. Jackson said.

"Look Dr. Jackson, no offense, but I don't know you and I'm sure as _hell_ not going to spill all of my secrets to a strange man," Abby snarked.

"I understand," the doctor said, his pleasant demeanor never slipping, "But you need to talk to _someone_ about it. I'll leave a list of recommendations with your parents," he said, standing up to leave.

"You do that," she said, knowing that unless her parents forced her to she was not going to see a shrink.

"It was nice meeting you, Abigail," the doctor said as he left the room.

Five minutes later Dave walked into her room, "Ready to go Pumpkin?" He asked, not mentioning the list of therapists he'd received from Dr. Jackson.

"More than ready!" She told him, "I'm just waiting for Dr. Shipley to bring my discharge paperwork and medicine."

"You're in luck, I spoke to the doctor out in the hallway and he gave me everything you need, now we're just waiting for your mom and a nurse with a wheelchair," Dave told her.

"Good, I can't wait to get home so I can sleep in my own bed," Abby lied. In truth, she wasn't looking forward to going back to the cabin, she was worried that she would be afraid there and she didn't want to be, she wanted to go home and have it feel normal but she knew that probably wouldn't happen.

"Well hopefully you can wait a few more days," Dave said. When Abby looked at him inquisitively, he explained further. "I'm taking you and your mom away from here for a couple of days, Pumpkin."

"Where are we going?" She asked, a little put out that she wasn't consulted about this.

"Wisconsin," Dave told her. "I have a buddy who owns a cabin on the water in the northern part of the state."

"Is it a real cabin? Or is it a cabin like our cabin?" Abby asked.

"It's a cabin with one tiny bedroom, a cave-like bathroom and a living room, dining room and kitchen all in one. But it has a porch overlooking the water, its own private beach and it's well-secluded; I don't think there's another house around for miles."

"I don't know dad…" Abby hesitated. While she wasn't exactly looking forward to going back to their cabin, she wasn't sure if she wanted to rough it in the middle of nowhere.

"Come on Abby, I promise you'll like it," Dave cajoled, "It's peaceful and secluded; hell, I wrote my second book there?"

"Which one was that again?" She asked.

"_Frenzy_," Dave replied.

"That one was pretty good," Abby murmured as she thought it over.

He grinned, "I'm glad you think so Pumpkin."

"Okay, I'll go, but we'll have to stop by our cabin so we can pack," she said.

Dave shook his head, "Derek and Penelope packed some clothes and other things for the three of us and they're going to bring all of it with them when they pick us up from here. Speaking of which," he said as he glanced at his watch, "They're probably waiting for us downstairs." As soon as he spoke the words, his wife came in and was followed by a nurse pushing a wheelchair. He watched as his daughter practically leapt into the chair, wanting to get out of the hospital as fast as possible. He couldn't blame her since he shared the same feeling; he couldn't wait to put some distance between them and the Washington DC area.

xxxxxxxxxx

Two hours later, Dave was convinced they would never get out of town. Hell, at this point he was wondering if he'd ever get out of Strauss's office! She had asked and re-asked the same questions over and over again and he was ready to put himself out of his misery with her stapler.

"Do you need me to repeat the question David?" She asked and it pulled him out of his reverie.

"No, I heard the question just fine Erin," he said testily. "In fact I heard it fine the first two times you asked it."

"Agent Rossi-" she began, but Dave didn't let her finish.

"As I said before, Suzette was able to pick up her gun and she aimed it at me. Jennifer grabbed Paul's gun and shot Suzette before she could shoot me."

"And you believe that Agent Jareau had no other choice than to kill Ms. McNeil?" Strauss asked.

"I'm certain of it. If she hadn't killed Suzette, I have no doubt that she would have killed the three of us. It was a 'kill or be killed' situation."

"I see," Strauss murmured, once again reviewing the file.

Dave finally lost his grip on his temper, "For Christ's sake Erin, do you really think Jen would have open fired with our daughter in the room if it wasn't a life or death situation? Yeah, Abby was unconscious, but she could have awakened at any moment and seen her mother killing someone and Jen knew it! Not to mention there's always a safety risk when someone fires their gun in an enclosed area. There is no_ way_ she would have taken that risk if it hadn't been the last resort!"

Strauss closed the file and set it down, "You're right, Jennifer wouldn't have taken that risk and neither would you if it hadn't been a life threatening scenario."

Dave shook his head as if trying to clear it, "If you agree then why did you question me for two hours straight?"

"Because the higher-ups are going to want an explanation as to why two people ended up dead in one of their top agent's houses. They're going to want to know why there was a mass casualty incident that sent nine private security guards to the hospital. They're going to want to know why I allowed one of our best BAU teams to remain on an off the books case for nearly a month and I need to be able to placate them, so that's why I questioned you for so long," Strauss told him.

"Did you get what you needed?" He asked as he stood up.

She nodded, "I did."

"Good," Dave said as he made his way towards the door. His hand was turning the knob when her voice stopped him.

"David," she said, in a softer tone.

He turned around knowing that if she had another question for him, he would go insane.

"I don't know if you know this," she said as she stood up, "But my daughter was attacked while walking to her dorm room a few years ago. She was beaten and raped and the assailant was never caught."

"Jesus Erin," Dave all but whispered, "I'm so sorry, I had no idea."

"Yes, well, I didn't exactly broadcast the news and she's fine now, but it took some time for her to get back to where she was and I honestly don't know if it would have happened without the help of this woman." She handed him a piece of paper with a name and number written on it. "Dr. Kendall worked wonders with Melissa and I think she could help Abby come to terms with everything that has happened to her, if you're planning on having her talk to a therapist."

"We are," he nodded as he put the piece of paper in his wallet. "Thanks for this Erin, really."

She nodded and he turned and left her office. He made his way to his own, thinking about his conversation with Strauss the entire way. He was pulled from his reverie when he entered his office and was hit in the head by a flying film canister.

"What the hell?" He wondered out loud as he rubbed his forehead. He looked to the left and saw a mortified Reid, and then he looked to his right and saw his daughter smiling and his heart melted.

"It's physics magic dad," she told him excitedly. "Spencer was showing me how he made old film canisters fly, but he wouldn't tell me what ingredients he used."

"Physics magic, huh?" Dave asked Reid, raising an eyebrow inquisitively.

"I am _so _sorry Agent Rossi, I didn't mean to hit you with it!" Reid scrambled to pick up the canister and lid from the floor.

"No problem kid, it takes a lot more than that to hurt this noggin, although it's probably not the best idea to have objects flying around my concussed daughter."

"Yes sir, sorry sir, I'll just go to my desk and work on some files," Reid said as he hurried from the office.

Dave grinned as he watched the flustered young doctor scurry towards his desk. "Everything go alright while I was gone?" He asked, turning back towards his daughter. While Dave was talking with Strauss, JJ met with HR to fill out paper work for her medical leave of absence. Since Abby couldn't be left alone, the various team members took turns staying with her in his office.

Abby nodded, "Yup. First Penelope came up and got me caught up on all of the gossip, then I sat in Uncle Aaron's office for nearly an hour while he did paperwork and then Reid rescued me and showed me his physics magic. It was an interesting couple of hours."

"Well I'm afraid it's about to get fairly dull; I've gotta send a couple of emails while your mom is in talking to Strauss. Do you want to take a nap or something?" He asked.

Abby shook her head, wincing at the pain it caused, "No, I'll just read my book," she said as she half lay down on the couch. Dave nodded as he turned on his computer.

They were both silent for the next hour; Abby quietly read her book while Dave sent his emails and got caught up on other ones. The silence was broken when Dave suddenly exclaimed, "What the hell?"

Abby set her book down, "What?" She asked, a bit apprehensive.

"What the hell is this?" Dave asked, half confused and half astonished. He turned the monitor so his daughter could see it.

She peered at the screen, "It looks like my third quarter report card."

Dave nodded, "It is. How in the hell did you manage to get straight A's?"

Abby was confused, "By working hard," she told him. "And I didn't get straight A's; there are minuses next to a few of those grades."

"But you missed you missed three weeks of school!" He told her, as if she didn't know. "You were dealing with a ton of stuff at the cabin! I was prepared to see some B's and even some C's on this report card and I was going to let it slide!"

Abby snorted, "What exactly did you think I was doing on my laptop, dad? Did you think I was idly surfing the net? I wasn't about to let what happened mess up my grades." What she didn't tell him was that the A minuses almost certainly took her out of the running for valedictorian. She knew both of her parents would feel bad about it and she wanted to put it off for as long as possible.

"But...but," he sputtered, not fully understanding her academic drive. "I'm so proud of you honey," he finally told her, still trying to wrap his mind around it.

"Thanks dad," she said with a mischievous smile, "Are you proud enough that you'll give me my laptop back once we get back home?"

He narrowed his eyes at her, "Don't push your luck, kid," he told her and then smiled. "I'll think about it, okay?"

Abby nodded and returned to her book. Ten minutes later her mother burst through the door. "Did you see what they did to my office?" She asked as she sank into the sofa, "It will take me _forever _to get that mess cleaned up!"

"It'll have to wait," Dave said, standing. "You have at least a month before you can return to work and we have a plane to catch." He held out his hand to his wife and helped her stand and then he did the same with his daughter. "Are you two ready for a change of scenery?"

"More than ready!" JJ said, looking towards her office. Abby nodded her agreement and the three went to search for Derek, who would be taking them to the airport. As they looked for the younger agent, Dave prayed that the trip would help his family get past the events of the past month.


	67. Chapter 67

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 67

**~I've been having some writer's block with this story...hopefully I'm past it and this chapter makes sense.**

* * *

Later that evening, the three members of the Rossi family were speeding down a rural, two lane highway, heading for the small town located closest to the cabin. They arrived at the outskirts of the town and Abby was surprised to see the population listed at one-hundred fifty people. There were more kids at her school than there were in the entire town! Her mother came from what was considered a small town and there were over two thousand residents in her town.

As they drove the short length of the town, Dave pointed out the local tavern/restaurant, the small county hospital and the one gas station which was attached to the lone grocery store, which he pulled into. "Gotta stock up because if I know Barry, there will be a bottle of ketchup and beer in the fridge at the cabin."

They got out of the car and went into the grocery store, grabbing a shopping cart before starting down the few aisles. The three of them were greeted by the proprietor, who was sitting behind the counter. "You folks made it just in time; I'm closing up in ten minutes."

Abby glanced at her watch, "But it's only six o'clock," she told him.

He nodded, "Not many people come in after five."

"Don't worry, we'll be out of here soon," Dave told him, "We're just getting some supplies."

"No worries, take your time," he said and then went back to his crossword puzzle.

The family made their way down the aisles, putting various items in the cart as they went along. Once they got to the meat counter, both JJ and Abby watched in amusement as Dave added piece after piece of beef to the cart.

"Exactly how long are you planning on staying here Dave?" JJ asked with a small smile on her face.

"Just until Thursday," he said.

"God dad, you have like half a cow in the cart! How much are you going to eat?"

"Hey, get off my case," he said with mock gruffness, "I'm a guy and I haven't been able to grill anything for over three weeks, I have to make up for lost time! Besides, you haven't tasted beef until you've tasted fresh, Wisconsin beef!" He told them.

Abby just looked at him and shook her head and smiled. She watched as he put a couple of pieces back and then moved on. They added some local ice cream and some beer from a local brewery and left. Fifteen minutes later they turned off of the highway and onto a gravel road. They followed it to the end and found themselves in front of a somewhat ramshackle cabin.

They got out and looked around. "Okay, _this_ is what I expected when we first went to your cabin, dad," Abby told him and JJ nodded her head in agreement.

"This is a cabin, what we have back home is a mansion," she told him.

Dave took a page from his daughter's book and rolled his eyes, "Whatever," he said. "One thing this cabin has that we don't have back home is the view." He directed them to the back of the cottage and the sight took their collective breaths away. The sun was setting over what looked like a placid ocean.

"It's beautiful Dave," JJ said and Abby agreed, although it had been so long since she'd been able to just sit outside in the woods and enjoy nature that anything would have been beautiful to her.

"It's a lot colder here than in DC, isn't it?" Abby asked as her dad nodded and reached for their luggage. She went to take some of the groceries, but her father gave her a look so she set the bags back down and followed her mother into the small house.

As JJ stepped into the cabin, she noticed the rusticity of both the cabin itself and its décor. The furniture looked like it had been new in 1965 and the art on the walls were mostly nature paintings and drawings. The kitchen, living room and dining room were all rolled into one, and the kitchen was small but functional with running water, a gas stove and a large refrigerator. She looked to the left side of the room and saw one door that led to the bedroom and another one that led to the bathroom. She supposed she should get down on her knees and praise the lord that there was indoor plumbing since she knew that many cabins like this still had outhouses.

What the cabin lacked in eloquence it more than made up for with the view. The entire back wall of the living room was made up of windows and it gave them a great view of the setting sun over the huge lake. As JJ peered out the windows, she saw the cabin also had a large wooden deck, a large back lawn and a path that led to the beach. All in all, there were worse places to spend a few days.

"You two can take the bedroom," Dave said as he set their duffel bags down on the queen sized bed, "I'll take the couch in the living room."

"You can share the room with mom, dad," Abby told him as she stood in the doorway, "I can easily take the sofa…or not," she amended when she saw the look her father shot her.

"You're getting over a concussion and your mom is still recuperating and you both need a comfortable bed to sleep in. I'll be fine on the couch," he said, as he left the room to go back into the kitchen.

Two hours later, after a dinner of grilled steak and potatoes, the three of them sat on the sofa and watched a movie. Towards the end of it, Dave looked over and saw his daughter dozing against JJ's shoulder, so he stood up and announced, "Bedtime."

Abby sat up and rubbed her eyes, "But I'm not tired," she whined.

Dave snorted, "Yeah, I could tell by your snoring that you're not tired."

"I don't snore!" She said indignantly.

"Uh huh," Dave grinned, "Of course you don't."

"Moooommm," Abby whined.

JJ sighed, "Face it Abby, you snore, although your father shouldn't be throwing stones at that particular glass house."

Dave just grinned, "Come on Pumpkin, time for bed," he said as he helped her to her feet.

"Fine," she grumbled. "You coming mom?"

"I'll be there in a few minutes," she said.

"Kay," Abby said and shuffled off to the bedroom. Once they heard the bedroom door close, Dave sat back down next to his wife. "You okay Jen?" He asked and was surprised to see tears on her face when she turned to face him.

She nodded, "I think it all finally caught up to me," she said with a sniffle. "Ever since it happened, I've been so busy taking care of Abby that I pushed it to the back of my mind, but God! We almost DIED!" She wailed. "I almost lost you and Abby! I had to watch while that evil bitch terrorized my own flesh and blood! I just sat there while she made you choose which one of us she should kill first! I didn't do anything when that TRAITOR knocked my BABY unconscious!"

JJ was sobbing by this point and Dave gathered her into his arms and let her cry. "We should all be dead; none of us should be here right now."

"But we _are_ here and we're all pretty much in one piece…we lived Jen," he said quietly.

"I know we did, but how are we going to get through this?" She asked, still crying. "We still don't know if I'll ever get back to where I was physically, Abby can't even sleep through the night without waking in terror and you've had more stress put upon you than you should've had in a lifetime! How in the hell are we supposed to go back to where we were?"

"We don't," he told her gently. "We go forward from here. You _will_ get back to a hundred percent Jen; the doctors were amazed at how well you're doing! And as for Abby, well we'll help her through it as much as we can and we'll get her professional help for what we can't do. She'll be okay Jen; she's strong, like you."

JJ gave him a watery smile, "What about you?" She asked, "This has to be affecting you, but you hardly ever show it!"

"Don't worry about me, honey," Dave reassured her, "I can take the hits life has thrown us recently; you just focus on yourself and our daughter and I'll do the same, okay."

She sniffed, "Okay," she said, still crying a little. She finally calmed down after half an hour and Dave convinced her to join their daughter in getting some much needed sleep.

xxxxxxxxxx

The family spent the next two days enjoying both the beach and forest around the cabin. Despite it being fairly cool out, it was only in the upper 50's during the day, they spent most of their time outdoors in order to make up for all of the time they had been cooped up indoors, both at the hospital and the cabin. The three of them went for morning walks along the beach before breakfast and then afterward, Abby and JJ rested outside under a big oak tree in the backyard. The first day they were there, they dragged a large quilt outside and sat in the shade and talked. They talked about their fears from the past month and they shared their worries about what lay ahead of them. Dave didn't partake in these conversations, preferring to read in one of the chaise lounges on the deck. Both JJ and Abby thought this was odd, as he loved to talk everything to death, but they assumed he was giving them some mother/daughter time.

The nights were more difficult. Abby still violently awoke with nightmares each night and it woke both of her parents, who would try and soothe her before she went back to sleep, but each of them were experiencing their own bad dreams, so it wasn't as if they were sleeping soundly either. While they were all experiencing nightmares, they were still doing fairly well and things were slowly starting to get better...and then Dave managed to blow all of their progress to hell and back. To give him credit, he had good intentions; he was thinking of his family and their safety and he was trying to put their needs first, but they didn't see it that way.

On Tuesday evening, he and JJ were out on the deck waiting for Abby to wake up. She'd had a dizzy spell while sitting outside with JJ earlier in the afternoon and she'd gone to take a nap. As soon as she was awake, if she felt up to it, the three of them were going to take a sunset walk along through the nearby woods, although if she didn't wake up soon it would be more of a moonlight walk.

JJ was sprawled out on a chaise lounge chair, enjoying the sounds of the waves lapping at the shore and she looked over at her husband to see if he was as relaxed as she was. To her surprise, his brow was knitted and he looked like he was a million miles away.

"What's on your mind Dave?" She asked.

"I was just thinking back to the day of the shooting," he told her. "I remember wanting to get back home to see Abby and I thought about what some of the guys I put away would think if they knew I had been felled by a seventeen year-old girl and her mother."

JJ smiled, "Well we think pretty highly of you too," she told him contentedly.

"But you're missing the point Jen," he said as he sat up and faced her, "I've put away some pretty fucked up criminals and God knows what they'd do if they knew I loved two people as much as I love you and Abby."

JJ sat up as well and faced her husband, "You can't think that way Dave, you can't live your life wondering if some psycho from your past is going to show his face in your life."

"I can't help but worry since it's already happened once before," he muttered looking down at the deck. He took a deep breath, took his wife's hand in his and looked into her eyes, "Look Jen, what I'm about to say probably isn't going to be very popular, but I'm asking you to hear me out."

"Okay Dave," she said hesitantly.

"When we get back to DC, I think I should disappear; we can do it formally through a divorce, or you can tell all of your press contacts that I left you, God knows they'd believe it, but I-"

"No!" JJ interrupted, "Not a chance in hell, David! We're a family dammit and I _won't_ let you leave us again!" She yelled, feeling as if her world was ending. After everything that had happened, was she really going to lose the love of her life?

"I don't _want_ to leave you, woman, but I don't have much of a choice! I fucking REFUSE to put you and Abby in a situation like this again!" He shouted back, frustrated.

"Damn you David Rossi, you do _not_ get to leave us again, we barely survived the last time!" He tried interrupting, but she pressed on. "We love you, you jackass and we're prepared to face whatever else comes our way! We can't live in the shadow of what MIGHT happen, we have to live in the present and if something else were to happen we'd deal with it, just like we dealt with the last threat!"

"Yeah, and the last threat almost tore us apart, it almost got all of us KILLED!" He roared.

"I'm going to say this one time Rossi; we're a family and families stick together," she said angrily. "If you _ever_ talk about leaving us again, or if you try to sneak out in the middle of the night, you won't have to worry about one of your enemies finding you because I'll hunt you down and shoot you with your own gun! Capisce?"

He nodded miserably, "I think you're being dangerously short-sighted about this, but-"

"No buts, you're not leaving us and that's final. And don't you _ever_ say anything like this again where your daughter could possibly hear it!" JJ ordered.

"Too late," a shaky voice said from behind them. Dave and JJ both whipped their heads around and saw their daughter standing behind them in her hoodie, looking absolutely shattered.

* * *

**_A/N 2: And now for some shameful self-promoting...I've been nominated for the _****Profiler's Choice Criminal Minds Awards **in numerous categories, including best overall author (which I REALLY wasn't expecting), best OC driven story and a bunch of other ones. Please check out the final ballot at http:/ / forum. fanfiction .net /topic/74868/33067839/1/ (remove the spaces). Be sure to vote before November 30, 2010!


	68. Chapter 68

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 68

**~This is it until after the weekend...I am taking a much needed mini-vacation and I'm leaving my laptop at home.**

* * *

"You said you'd never leave us again," Abby said in a small voice.

"Abby," Dave started, but she violently shook her head.

"NO!" She shouted, "YOU SAID YOU'D NEVER LEAVE US AGAIN!" Almost on instinct she ran past her parents, jumped down the two steps from the deck to the yard and then tore down the beach.

"Dammit!" Dave exclaimed, realizing the huge mess he'd made; a part of him had been serious about leaving, about never putting the two women he loved most in the world in a dangerous situation again, but an even larger part of him had been simply thinking out loud, not knowing that his already insecure daughter had been listening. He wished he could turn back time and keep his big mouth shut.

It took him a split second to remember that his daughter still had a concussion and shouldn't be running and he shot out of his seat to go after her. As he ran toward her, he watched as she stumbled and then fell to her knees. He was at her side a few seconds later and he tried putting his arms around her.

"Pumpkin," he started, but she wouldn't listen.

"NO!" She screamed as she shook her head, "Leave me ALONE!" She got back to her feet and turned to take off again when he clamped his hand around her upper arm.

"I can't leave you alone honey, you can't run like this; you're supposed to be limiting your activity."

"I don't CARE! I don't want to be anywhere near you right now!" She screeched as she tore from his grip and started running again.

Once again he chased after her and caught her. She struggled against his grip, but knew it was a losing battle. "I'm not going with you!"

"Quit acting like a child," he said through clenched teeth. "I know I've fucked up on a massive scale, but I'm not going to allow you to hurt yourself by running wildly down the beach. Now come on!" He said, trying to lead her back to the cabin.

"No!" She told him as she tried pulling away again. Sighing, Dave took a page out of Gibbs' book and bent down, grabbed her around the legs and threw her over his shoulder. He realized it probably wasn't good for her head, but it had to be better than her haphazard running.

Once her dad had her over his shoulder, Abby knew he'd won and she gave up her struggles, partly because struggling increased the pain in her head and partly because she just didn't care anymore. As he carried her back to the cottage, she felt like her entire world was being ripped out from under her.

Once they got back to the cabin, Dave gently set his daughter down on a chaise lounge and pulled a chair up next to her. "Honey, I don't want to leave, I just thought it would be for the best-"

"How can that be the best for any of us?" She asked through her tears. "This is just…it's just too much!"

Both Dave and JJ saw the horrified look come into her eyes and they knew she was beginning to shut down like she had in New York.

"No!" JJ said as she rushed to her daughter' side, "Stay with us Abby, stay with us and deal with this!"

"I can't!" She wailed, snapping out of her encroaching reverie. "I can't be near you!" She screeched at her father. She jumped up from her seat and ran into the cabin. A second later, there was the loud slamming of the bedroom door.

Knowing he'd fucked up; Dave sadly shook his head as he got up from his seat.

"Just leave her alone, Dave," JJ said tiredly; good God her husband was an idiot! On one hand, she knew he hadn't been serious about leaving them, he was simply looking out for their safety, but on the other hand, she was ready to throttle him for adding to both her own and their daughter's stress and worries.

Dave shook his head, "I can't Jen, she's hysterical and I have to fix this."

"I think hearing you talk about leaving us brought everything to a head for her. There's only so much she can hold inside before it comes spilling out and you leaving us is her absolute worst fear."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I never wanted to leave either one of you, I just can't imagine yours and Abby's lives ever being in danger again because of something I've done," he told her as the sound of their daughter's crying filled the night air. Hearing her heartbreaking sobs nearly drove Dave crazy and he strode inside and knocked on her door.

"Pumpkin," he said gently, "Can I come in?"

A second later there was a loud thud against the door, "GO AWAY!" Abby screamed.

"I'm not going to do that honey; I need to know that you're okay."

Another thud, "Like you really give a shit about me! If you did, it wouldn't be so easy for you to walk away!"

He sighed, "It's _because _I care about you that I was willing to leave."

This time the thud sounded like she'd kicked the door, "Just go start packing and LEAVE ME ALONE!" She screeched through her sobs.

Dave was about to just barge into the room and take his chances with the projectiles in the air, when he felt a soft hand on his shoulder.

"Let me Dave," JJ said moving towards the door. She knocked softly, "Abby honey, it's just me, can I come in?"

A teary "Uh huh" came from the bedroom and JJ slipped inside, leaving Dave to ponder just how badly he'd screwed things up with both his wife and his daughter.

Two hours later, JJ emerged from the bedroom looking exhausted. Abby's sobs had died down awhile ago and Dave hoped she'd fallen asleep. He watched as his wife wandered into the small kitchen, grabbed a mug, filled it with hot water and stuck it in the microwave.

"Two years, Dave," she said quietly, her back facing him as she got a tea bag down from the cabinet, "Two years of hard work, of trust, of reassurances you would never leave us again, went down the drain tonight."

From his seat at the kitchen table, Dave nodded miserably, "Is she okay? Is she asleep?"

JJ looked at him and nodded, "I finally forced her to take a sleeping pill in order to get her to calm down. Trust me, tonight didn't help her concussion either."

"I know and I'm so, _so_, sorry JJ! I've been sitting here thinking and rethinking about why I told you I should leave and I can't think of anything that isn't totally crazy. All I can say is that I think I got lost in my own worries; I imagined you and Abby sitting there in the study too many times and I temporarily lost my mind. I could _never _leave either one of you; I need you two like I need oxygen."

"And we need _you _like we need air," JJ said sitting down.

"I know honey, and again, I'm so incredibly sorry," he told her as he gripped her hand. "What can I do to fix this with you?"

"It's not me you have to worry about; _I_ realize the stress you've been under and your lack of sleep and I chalked your asinine idea up to that. It's Abby you have to worry about. She's insecure under the best of circumstances, and the circumstances haven't exactly been great lately. Plus the fact that you pretty much acted out one of her biggest fears. She's in a bad place right now, Dave and it's going to take a LOT of work to make things one hundred percent right with her again."

"I really fucked up, didn't I?" He asked as he ran a hand down his tired face.

JJ nodded, "Yeah, you did, but I think a part of her understands the pressures you've been under. As long as you don't actually leave, I think you can fix this with her."

"Thank God," he said as she finished her tea.

xxxxxxxxxx

Abby awoke early the next morning and realized since it was still dark out, it was much earlier than she normally got up. She stretched and realized she felt wide awake and then remembered her mother forcing her to take a sleeping pill at around nine the night before and she knew the pill must have thrown off her sleep schedule.

Glancing at the clock on the bedside table, she saw there was only half an hour before sunrise, so she gently extracted herself from her mother's grip and got up. She hastily threw on her hoodie, grabbed a blanket from the chest at the foot of the bed, and quietly exited the room.

She stepped into the living room and saw that her father was still asleep and she tiptoed out the door that opened onto the deck. Settling down on one of the comfy lounge chairs, she contemplated things as she stared up at the stars.

Dave, having heard the back door open and close, got off of the sofa, looked out onto the deck and saw a small figure lying on one of the chaise lounges. He knew he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, so he made his way to the kitchen area and set turned on the coffee maker. Ten minutes later, after putting on his own sweatshirt, he poured two cups of coffee started towards the back deck.

Abby wasn't too surprised when she heard the door open behind her; her dad hadn't been snoring when she cut through the living room, so she knew he had been sleeping lightly. What had surprised her was that he'd waited so long to follow her outside. As she watched the brightening sky a coffee mug appeared in front of her, "Here, its cold out," she heard her father say. She really wanted to set the cup aside, but he was right, it _was_ cold out and coffee sounded like heaven at that point.

She accepted the steaming mug and held it close to her, "You're still here?" She asked as she wiped a few stray tears away.

Okay, Dave thought, she was going to get started right away. "Of course I'm still here Pumpkin, I'm not going anywhere," he told her as he sat on the edge of the other lounger.

She sat up, and gave an angry snort, "Well excuse me if I don't believe a word you say! You've been telling me for the last two years that there is nothing that would make you leave us again, but apparently that was bullshit, so how am I supposed to believe that you're not going to sneak out in the middle of the night?"

"I never wanted to leave you and your mother, honey, I just thought after everything that happened with Suzette…well, I never again wanted to be the one responsible for putting you both in that kind of danger. I was trying to protect both of you; I couldn't bear to think of you and your mother getting hurt again because of me."

"You're a coward," she said as she looked into her coffee mug.

"What did you just say?" Dave asked quietly, but Abby could hear the undercurrent of anger in his voice.

She looked him in the eye, "I said, you're a coward. The last time you left us it was because things were getting to be too real for you, you were afraid of screwing things up with us so you left. Now you're afraid of screwing things up again and instead of staying to face your fears, to _fight _them, you want to take the easy way out, you want to leave! You. Are. A. COWARD!"

"I am NOT a coward!" He roared, "I'm a man who saw the two most important people in his life almost die slow and painful deaths because of something I did in my past! You want to know why I haven't sat outside with you and your mother and talked about what happened? Because I can't put my feelings into words! When I think about what happened that night, hell, when I think about what happened all _month_, it nearly drives me insane! I can't verbalize the abject terror I felt when I saw your mother get shot! I can't express the total and utter fear and helplessness I felt when Will held that knife to your throat! You can't fathom the absolute horror and powerlessness I felt when I realized you and your mother were going to die in the study because of a mistake I made in my past! It literally tears me up inside to think about all of the people I've pissed off in my life and to wonder how they might exact their revenge upon me!" He was really shouting by this time and he struggled to keep his emotions under control. "It scares the ever loving shit out of me to think that another one of my many enemies might try to use you or your mom to get back at me."

Abby stared at him for a full minute; she was shocked by the intensity of his emotions. Could he really have been trying, in his own twisted and idiotic way, to protect them? Did he really not want to leave them? "I would rather be in danger for the rest of my life than to have you leave us again," she told him firmly.

Dave felt himself tear up a little at her declaration, "I love you and your mom, Pumpkin, but I think you both are crazy to want me to stick around."

Abby once again felt her emotions come to a head, but this time instead of anger, it was frustration. "Jesus, and you think _I'm _insecure! We LOVE you, you moron! You're a part of our family and we both need you and want you! God!"

"I never wanted to leave," he repeated softly, touched by his daughter's words. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"You _weren't_ thinking," she said as she took a long draw from her coffee mug.

They sat in silence for a minute before Dave spoke up, "Do you think we can get past this, Pumpkin, or did I mess things up too badly this time?"

Abby thought for a moment, "We can get past it, but it's going to take awhile before I can trust that you're not really going to leave us."

Dave mentally sighed, he'd put even more trust issues on her plate..he sure as hell wasn't going to win any father of the year awards this year.

They sat in silence again for another ten minutes, before hearing noises coming from the kitchen. "C'mon," Dave said, "We'd better get inside before your mother burns the place down while trying to cook breakfast." He was encouraged by the small smile he saw on his daughter's face as he offered her his hand to help her up from her seat. He was further encouraged when she didn't drop his hand right away, but instead gave it a small squeeze as they headed for the cabin door.

* * *

**_A/N 2: And now for some shameful self-promoting...I've been nominated for the _****Profiler's Choice Criminal Minds Awards **in numerous categories, including best overall author (which I REALLY wasn't expecting), best OC driven story and a bunch of other ones. Please check out the final ballot at http:/ / forum. fanfiction .net /topic/74868/33067839/1/ (remove the spaces). Be sure to vote before November 30, 2010!


	69. Chapter 69

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 69

* * *

The rest of the day was interesting for various members of the Rossi family. After their talk out on the deck, Dave and Abby came back into the cabin and relieved JJ from her cooking duties. During the meal, the two women spoke to each other but they barely included Dave in their conversations and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out they were still pissed at him. Not that he could blame them, he knew he'd messed up royally by even suggesting that he leave them again, but he'd truly had their best interests in mind when he'd broached the subject with his wife. He was both a little pissed that they didn't understand where he had been coming from and touched that they were so vocal about him even thinking about walking away from them. Any of his other wives would have kicked him out for placing them in the danger his girls had been in, but they were adamant that he stick around and it was a good feeling to know that he was so loved by them.

Since they had all awakened early, their meal schedule was somewhat thrown out of whack and Dave found himself fixing lunch at around eleven that morning. As he fixed the sandwiches, he stared out the window and watched as his wife and daughter sat under the big oak tree and talked. As he studied them, he knew that was what part of the problem was; he'd kept all of his feelings and fears bottled up inside of him instead of talking to the girls about them and when he suggested leaving, it came as a huge shock to them and they, well at least Abby, took it personally. He realized it was more of a cultural thing than anything; it wasn't as though he'd purposely kept his fears from them, but he was a big, strong, Italian male and he was supposed to protect his love ones, especially the women, and he didn't want to worry them even more with his own fears. He knew now that it had been a big mistake. If they were going to get past the events of the last month, then they needed to communicate as a family. He knew his daughter had already picked up his habit of not sharing what was bothering her, as was evidenced by her sneaking out earlier in the month, and he wanted to make sure the habit didn't take a strong hold in her. He was also worried that Jennifer was holding back on him, not telling him if she was feeling poorly because she didn't want to worry him, and he wanted to nip that in the bud as well and he knew what he had to do.

JJ and Abby were relaxing under their tree, both sprawled out on a large quilt, enjoying the sunshine and unusually warm weather, when they saw Dave approaching them. The anger, hurt and betrayal the two of them had felt over Dave's suggestion of leaving them reared its head and the atmosphere went from relaxed and contemplative to tense and reserved.

As Dave approached the blanket, he could tell that the atmosphere had shifted and he took a deep breath. "Mind if I join you?" He asked, setting a large picnic basket down on the quilt.

Abby and JJ were shocked; in the few days they had been there, Dave hadn't once asked if he could join them in their discussions under the tree. In fact, JJ had invited him to sit with them, but each time Dave had made excuses as to why it would be better if it was just her and Abby. The two women looked at each other and had a silent conversation. Finally JJ nodded and said, "Sure David, you've always been welcome here."

Dave gave a mental sigh of relief and sat down on the blanket. "I thought we could eat lunch out here while we talked," he said as he opened the picnic basket. He pulled out large sandwiches for each of them, a large bag of potato chips, a small fruit salad and bottles of water. It was silent for the first few minutes as all of them dug into the meal, but after a few minutes Dave began speaking.

"I just want to apologize again for suggesting that I leave. I know now that it was a bad idea, but I honestly thought I was doing what was right for our family. You both have no idea how the whole thing with Suzette affected me."

"How could we know, David?" JJ asked, trying not to sound accusatory. "You never shared your worries with us. This entire time you've been the strong, silent one; the one who protected us, so your offer to leave came out of left field to us."

"I know, and I'm sorry…it's just that in my family, I've always been the caretaker, the protector and it's a role I'm used to playing," he said. "After my dad died, I _couldn't_ show my emotions because I had to be the strong one for my mother and my siblings and I guess I'm just not used to sharing that part of myself with others."

"But you always want mom and I to tell you things about us," Abby said, reaching for some potato chips. "It has to work both ways, dad."

"I know it does, Pumpkin, but you and your mom haven't exactly been forthcoming either, have you?" He asked. "You didn't tell me just how frightened you were at the cabin and you've tried keeping your nightmares from us. And Jen, you haven't said one word about how you've felt about this whole thing. Any time I ask, you always talk about how worried you are about Abby or me, but never about how _you _feel. I know I screwed up last night, but I'm not the only one who has been holding back."

JJ sighed, "I guess all three of us need to work at our communication skills. We'll add that to the list of things we need to do once we get back to the cabin."

"About the cabin," Dave said, "We need to decide what we want to do about it."

"What do you mean?" Abby asked, confused.

"We have to decide if we want to continue living there, or if we want to sell it."

"Sell it?" Abby asked, surprised, "Why would we sell it?"

"I didn't know if you and your mother would feel comfortable living there after all that has happened. Hell, I don't know if _I'll _feel secure living there," he told her.

Both Abby and JJ thought for a moment, "You have a point Dave, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to go into the study without thinking about that night," JJ said with a shudder.

"But if we get rid of the cabin, where would we live?" Abby asked.

Dave shrugged, "I guess we could get a place in the city."

"But you hate living in the city," JJ said and Abby nodded.

"I don't hate it," he told them.

"Yes you do, dad," Abby told him. "When we lived at the apartment during the week, you never missed an opportunity to tell us how much you disliked city living."

"Oh," Dave said, remembering his words, "Well I guess we could look for another place in the woods."

"How about we wait until we're back home to decide?" JJ suggested. "Let's give it a month and see how we're all feeling."

"Sounds like a plan, Jen." Dave said, somewhat relieved that they hadn't jumped at the chance to get rid of their home.

xxxxxxxxxx

The rest of the day went quickly for the family. Because of the excitement from the previous night, both of Abby's parents wanted her to take it easy for the rest of the day, so the three of them lounged on the deck, each of them reading various books. While JJ and Abby were still somewhat cool to him, Dave knew their afternoon talk had gone a long way in making things right with them. He was surprised when Abby asked him for grilling lessons while he was fixing the last of the steaks. He was happy to oblige her and they both had fun cooking over the open flame.

Later that night, Abby awoke with yet another bad dream. As she jerked awake, she wondered if she had screamed out loud. She looked over and saw that her mother was still asleep on the other side of the bed and she realized she had managed to keep quiet during her nightmare. Knowing that her mom needed her sleep, Abby didn't wake her; instead, she crept out the bedroom door and into the bathroom, where she splashed her face with cool water. As she exited the bathroom, a horrible thought hit her; what if her dad had left in the middle of the night? She was fairly certain he wouldn't do that to them, but a small part of her wondered if he might and she had to make sure he was still there.

She quietly opened the bathroom door and padded out into the living room. She breathed a small sigh of relief when she saw her father sprawled across the opened futon.

"You okay Pumpkin?" He asked and Abby's sigh turned into a gasp.

"I didn't think you were awake," she said as she moved towards the makeshift bed.

"I heard you go into the bathroom and I wanted to make sure you're okay," he told her. "Did you have a nightmare?"

She nodded, "But I'm okay, I just wanted to make sure…" She trailed off, not wanting to let him know why she was in the living room, but he guessed the reason.

"You wanted to make sure I was still here," he said, finishing her thought.

Abby bit her lip and nodded, somewhat ashamed for doubting him.

Dave saw the worried look on her face and lifted the quilt from the futon, "Get in," he said, gesturing to the other side of the bed.

"No, its okay dad, I can go back to my own bed," Abby protested feebly. She wanted to be the almost adult that she was, but a large part of her had grown both afraid of the dark and afraid of her dad leaving her.

"Pumpkin, it's like fifty degrees in the cabin and I'm freezing over here. All I want to do is huddle under the quilt, but I can't do that unless I know you're feeling safe and secure, so do us both a favor and get in the damn bed."

Abby didn't need any further convincing. She moved to the futon, laid down on her side of the jerry-rigged bed and snuggled under the quilt. Dave silently passed her his pillow and he grabbed his sweatshirt off of the floor, balled it up and shoved it under his head. After a few minutes of silence, he was nearly asleep when he heard her whisper, "'Night dad, love you." He smiled, "I love you too Abby, pleasant dreams." He added the last part almost as a prayer. A few minutes later, he heard a soft snoring coming from her side of the bed and he smiled as he joined her in sleep.

xxxxxxxxxx

At six o'clock the next evening, the three of them stepped wearily off of the airplane at Regan National Airport. The trip home had been a bumpy one and they were all looking forward to a relaxing evening. As they trudged through the airport with their carry-on bags, they spotted a familiar face waiting for them just outside of security.

"Uncle Aaron!" Abby called out as she spotted her pseudo uncle. She strode over to him and gave him a hug.

"Hi Abby," he said, returning the hug. As he looked at her parents over her head, he was glad to see that the family seemed more relaxed and he hoped they'd been able to work some things out during their time away.

"Thanks for picking us up, Aaron," Dave said, once his daughter released him from her clutches and JJ had greeted him.

"No problem Dave, I have to be back here tomorrow to pick up Jack and this gave me a chance to scout everything out."

"I forgot Jack comes home tomorrow!" Abby exclaimed, looking forward to seeing her best friend.

Hotch nodded, "And we've already been invited to your house for dinner." Seeing the puzzled looks he was getting, the unit chief clarified the situation as they walked to his car. "Marie called and invited Jack, Emily and I for dinner. She said she was preparing a 'welcome home' dinner for her family and she let me know that Jack and I are definitely family."

"Well it was _so_ nice of her to check with us about it," Dave said, annoyed.

"Just let it go Dave," JJ instructed. "All I want to do is go back to the cabin and take a nice, long soak in the Jacuzzi."

"About that," Dave began, "I made reservations for us at the Park Hyatt in the city tonight." He saw both women look at him with raised brows, so he quickly explained. "I didn't know how any of us would feel about going back to the cabin at night, and Abby has an appointment with Dr. Shipley early tomorrow morning, so I thought this would work out for all of us. This way we can go back to the cabin while it's light out and maybe it won't seem so scary."

Both women finally nodded, "It makes sense," JJ said and Dave gave a sigh of relief that they weren't arguing with him, because he wasn't sure if _he_ wanted to return to the cabin while it was dark out.

After a short ride to the hotel, the Rossi family checked in to their room and JJ was amused to find that Dave had booked them into the presidential suite.

"One normal room would have been enough, honey," she told him, smiling.

"I figured after roughing it for the last couple of days, we all deserved some luxury."

"Did you see the bathtub?" Abby asked as she came out of the bathroom. "I can practically swim laps in there."

"And that's where I'll be for the next hour," JJ said, heading towards the room.

Dave smiled, "What're your plans?" He asked his daughter.

"I thought I would catch up on some TV, unless I'm still grounded?" She asked.

Dave thought for a minute, "You're no longer grounded from the TV, but we'll have to talk about your restrictions sometime this weekend."

"'Kay," Abby agreed; she was _not_ looking forward to that particular conversation. She'd hoped her parents would let her off of restriction because of all that had happened, but it didn't look like that was going to happen any time soon.

She sat down on the sofa and Dave joined her, and after a few minutes of channel surfing, they found a show they could both agree on. Half an hour later, JJ came into the room and found them both dead asleep in front of the television. She smiled, covered them both up and kicked back in the easy chair. She turned on one of her favorite shows and joined her husband and daughter in sleep less than ten minutes later.

* * *

**_A/N: And now for some shameful self-promoting...I've been nominated for the _****Profiler's Choice Criminal Minds Awards **in numerous categories, including best overall author (which I REALLY wasn't expecting), best OC driven story and a bunch of other ones. Please check out the final ballot at http:/ / forum. fanfiction .net /topic/74868/33067839/1/ (remove the spaces). Be sure to vote before November 30, 2010!


	70. Chapter 70

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 70

* * *

"Well Abby, I really don't see any reason as to why you can't return to school on Monday," Dr. Shipley told her, as he finished her neurological exam.

Abby breathed a sigh of relief as she sat on the exam table, but her relief was cut short by her father's voice from one of the chairs in the room. "Isn't it too early, doc?" He asked, the trepidation evident in his voice. "Maybe we should keep her home for another week just to be sure."

She glared at him as the doctor answered his question, "That is certainly up to you and your wife but I see no reason for her to miss school, as long as she takes it easy." They had already discussed the ways in which her activities would remain limited for the next week, including sitting on the sidelines during gym class and her parents carting her to and from school instead of her driving or taking the Metro. "Abby said her dizziness is nearly non-existent and her headaches have gone back to normal. I see no evidence of further brain trauma, so I am prepared to give her a clean bill of health."

"But-" Dave began, but was interrupted by his wife. "David, listen to the man with all of the fancy initials behind his name. If he thinks Abby is ready to return to school and _Abby _thinks she's ready to return, then I say let her go back." It wasn't as if JJ was less worried about their daughter's well-being than her husband was, she just knew the next part of their day would elicit an argument from Abby and she didn't want the teen already worked up.

"Fine," he grumbled. Deep down Dave didn't want their daughter to miss any more school, but for more than a month they had all been together in some form or another, whether it was at the hospital or in the cabin, and he was having problems imagining letting her go. The rational part of him knew that the danger was over, but the dad part of him knew that danger always lurked around every corner and he wanted to protect her from all of the bad things in life for as long as he could. If that meant holing up in the cabin with her and JJ, then so be it.

"I want to see you back for a final check up in a month Abby, but until then, you're free to go," Dr. Shipley told her. She flashed him a smile and let her dad help her down from the exam table. As she left the office with her parents, she tried reassuring them.

"I swear I feel _tons _better," she said, worried that they, or more specifically her dad, might disregard the doctor's words and try to keep her home from school the following week.

"I'm glad honey," JJ said with a smile, "But I'm concerned that you're still not sleeping through the night. You need your rest or else you'll be a zombie at school."

"It'll be tough," Abby admitted, "But I _have_ to go back! I'm too far behind as it is and it's my last couple of months of high school!"

"And you _will_ go back, but I'm not sure we want to rush it Pumpkin; I'm afraid the best you're going to get from me right now is a 'we'll see'," Dave said as he opened the car door for her.

She was discouraged, but as JJ got into the car she flashed her daughter a small smile and a wink and Abby knew that if her mother had anything to do with it, she would be walking into school at eight-thirty on Monday morning.

The car ride was a silent one, with everyone lost in their own thoughts. Abby had so many things running through her mind that she didn't realize her father had passed the turn to the highway that would take them out of the city until they were two blocks past it.

"You missed our turn dad," she said, pointing behind them.

Dave glanced at his daughter in the rearview mirror, "We're not going home yet," he told her.

Abby heard the forced calmness in his voice and inquisitively raised an eyebrow, "Where are we going?"

"You have another doctor's appointment," he told her, not taking his eyes off of the road.

"No I don't," Abby said, her forehead wrinkling in confusion. The only other doctor she had was her pediatrician and she felt fine, so there was no reason to see him.

JJ took a deep breath, she knew this next part was not going to be very popular with the youngest member of their family, "You have an appointment with Dr. Kendall; she's a psychiatrist." JJ closed her eyes as she waited for the proverbial shit to hit the fan. She didn't have to wait very long.

"WHAT?" Abby yelled from the backseat, "You made an appointment with a doctor, a kind that I _explicitly _ said I didn't want to see, and then you drag me there under false pretenses? I don't believe this!"

"Well believe it Abby!" Dave said loudly, as he navigated a turn onto a busy street. "You need to talk to someone about what you've been through."

"No I don't!" She argued as she sat forward in her seat, "What I _need_ is for everyone to quit worrying about me! I'm fine!"

JJ turned in her seat to face her daughter, "You're _not_ fine, Abby! You haven't slept through the night in weeks, you're afraid to be alone, you've become afraid of the dark and I can tell the events of the past month are constantly running through your mind! I'm not saying you're crazy, or that these things aren't to be expected, but you need help getting over them!"

"That's _my_ decision to make! You can't force me to talk to a goddamn shrink!"

"Wanna bet?" Dave practically snarled from the front of the car. His patience with his daughter was nearly used up; he didn't know why she was fighting them on this and he didn't care, she needed help and she was going to get it, end of story.

"This is crap! I'm nearly an adult and I should be able to make my own decisions!" Abby protested as she flopped back against the back seat and defiantly crossed her arms over her chest.

"You're not in the right frame of mind to make these kinds of decisions right now honey," JJ said gently, trying to soothe her.

As he pulled into a parking space in front of the medical complex, Dave glanced in the rearview mirror and saw that his daughter was about to open her mouth to argue again, so he cut her off at the pass. As he slammed the SUV into park, he turned and faced her. "If you cooperate with us on this, if you agree to meet with the doctor today, I won't stand in your way of returning to school on Monday."

THAT shut her up for a minute; was one hour of her time worth saving an argument with her father? Abby figured that even with her mother on her side, she might not win an argument against her father on Monday and she knew she could go into the shrink's office and simply not say anything for an hour.

"Fine," Abby said as she opened her door. She walked in front of her parents and they could tell by her body language that she was pissed off, but they didn't care, as long as she got the help she needed she could be pissed at them for as long as she wanted.

xxxxxxxxxx

Twenty minutes later, a silent Abigail Rossi sat across from an equally silent Dr. Sarah Kendall. Abby was surprised by the doctor; she'd expected a stodgy older man in a jacket with patches on the elbows, but Dr. Kendall actually seemed kind of cool. First of all, the doctor was a 'she' instead of a 'he' and that put Abby somewhat at ease. Second, she'd introduced herself as Sarah Kendall and she'd introduced herself to Abby first and her parents second. Third, Dr. Kendall, or Sarah as she told her to call her, was young; Abby pegged her at around thirty-five years old, and she was dressed in jeans and a funky blouse and she reminded her vaguely of Penelope. Finally, once she had been ushered into the office, Abby saw that it was decorated in warm colors with numerous plants and eclectic artwork on the walls. All in all, it was the exact opposite of what Abby had expected, but that didn't mean she was going to open up to this lady.

She was a bit unnerved at the way Sarah stared at her. Abby hadn't said anything once they'd entered the office, and had instead walked around the room examining various items, but she'd felt the doctor's eyes on her the entire time. Now she was sitting in an overstuffed easy chair across from Sarah and the silence was getting to be uncomfortable. Finally, Abby knew she had to say something, if only to get the doctor to quit watching her.

"I don't want to be here; my parents are forcing me but I'm not going to say anything," Abby told her. She expected the doctor to get mad at her, but instead she just smiled and nodded.

"That's fine, but you know they're going to bring you here every week, regardless of whether we talk or not," the doctor said warmly.

Abby shrugged, "That's their problem, not mine. I didn't ask to be brought here, I didn't ask for _any _of this!"

"Any of what?" Sarah asked inquisitively.

"The shootings, the attacks, the threats…take your pick," Abby told her defiantly.

"Sounds like you've had a rough time of it lately."

"Yeah, but I'm _fine_!" Abby insisted, a little miffed that the doctor had managed to weasel some information out of her.

"Really? Because I wouldn't be." Sarah recalled everything David Rossi had told her about the past month and continued. "Your parents are worried about you; they know what you've been through and they see their once sparkly and outgoing daughter pulling into herself and they're worried. You say you're fine, but I've had no less than five people call my office to convince me to squeeze you in as patient."

"Really?" Abby asked, touched that so many people felt concern for her.

Sarah nodded, "I have an extensive waiting list, so when both of your parents called me, I referred them to another doctor but your father insisted on the best for you, and trust me, I _am_ the best at what I do," she told her.

"Who else called you?"

"Let's see, after I turned your parents down I got a phone call from Erin Strauss, an Aaron Hotchner and a Penelope Garcia. While Erin and Aaron can be intimidating, it was Penelope's…suggestions that convinced me to take you on as a patient."

"Suggestions?" Abby grinned.

"Yes, suggestions about my electronic well-being," Sarah told her. "So as you can see, it's not just your parents who are worried about you and I suspect the list is longer than Erin, Aaron and Penelope."

Abby nodded thoughtfully and Sarah continued, "Look Abby, you have a choice to make; we can sit here in silence for an hour twice a week and I can continue to stare at you and make you uncomfortable, or we can use this time to work through some of your issues. The choice is yours."

xxxxxxxxxx

Forty-five minutes later, the three members of the Rossi family pulled out of the medical center parking lot and headed for the cabin. Both Dave and JJ were relieved when Abby had come out of her session smiling and in a better mood. While she hadn't said anything to them about her session, she hadn't argued with Dr. Kendall when she said she wanted to see her twice a week, nor had she resisted when they set up her next appointment.

"We're really going to the cabin this time, right?" Abby piped up from the backseat, once they were on the highway. "You're not going to trick me into going to the dentist to make my day complete, are you?"

Both of her parents smiled, "No dentist, I promise," JJ told her, crossing her heart.

"How'd it go with Dr. Kendall?" Dave asked casually as he glanced at his daughter in the rearview mirror. He'd expected some kind of report at the end of her session, but the doctor had nothing to tell them, she'd just set up the next appointment with Abby.

"It went fine," Abby said with a shrug, "She seems cool."

Dave couldn't keep the smug smile from spreading across his face and Abby didn't miss it. "Go ahead," she said with a sigh, "I know you're dying to say 'I told you so'."

"Would I do that Pumpkin?" Dave asked.

"Yes!" Both she and JJ said simultaneously.

His grin broadened at their reaction, "I was simply going to say I'm happy that it seemed to work out for you."

"It did…I _suppose_ you and mom might still know what's best for me every once in a while," she admitted.

"That must have hurt to say," JJ said.

"Whatever," came the teenage reply from the backseat. The rest of the ride to the cabin was quiet as no one said much until Dave turned off the main highway and onto the mile long gravel road that led to the cabin. Once the tires hit the rocky road, Abby sat forward in the seat waiting for her first glimpse of the cabin.

'Please don't be scary, please don't be scary!" She prayed furiously. Little did she know that her parents were doing the same thing.

Once the cabin came into view, a large sigh of relief filled the car and the three of them finally felt like they were home, but there was no fear at being there. JJ knew that might change once they got inside, but for now, things were fairly normal.

Once Dave parked the car in front of the house, the three of them stepped out of the SUV and looked around. They hadn't been able to simply take in the scenery or the woodsy air in over a month and they seemed to savor it. Finally, Abby shored up her courage and headed for the front door with her parents following closely behind her.

They waited for Dave to unlock the front door, and when he did, no one seemed to want to go in first. Dave, as the self-appointed protector of the two women, took a deep breath and stepped inside. His first feeling was relief that the cleaning crew had straightened up the place. The night of horror, as Dave had nicknamed it in his mind, had been a messy one, both in the study and outside of it once the police and paramedics had arrived and he was glad there was no trace of that night in the great room.

He hadn't realized that his wife and daughter had followed him inside until he heard Abby say, "It feels good to be home."

He let out a sigh of relief when he saw his wife nod in agreement, "Let's go upstairs and unpack," he suggested as he carried all three bags. While he no longer insisted carrying JJ up the stairs, he made sure to stay near both her and Abby as they made their way to the second floor.

Once there, they headed to their respective rooms, all of them still a bit nervous. As they entered the master bedroom, JJ was glad to see it bore no evidence of that horrible night, and she began to unpack as her husband stretched out on the bed.

"Aahhhhhh," Dave said, lying down on the luxurious bedding, "Four nights on that fucking torture device of a futon has nearly wrecked my back."

"Sorry honey," JJ said sympathetically as she put their clothes into the laundry hamper. From there, she went into the master bathroom and unpacked her toiletries and when she came out, she saw that her husband had fallen asleep on the bed. With a gentle smile, she covered him with a throw blanket and tiptoed out of the room and across the hall to her daughter's bedroom. She knocked on the open door of the room, and Abby looked up from the duffel bag she was unpacking.

"How's it going in here, honey?" JJ asked.

"Um, it's going pretty well," she told her. "I had a bad few minutes when I replayed the scene with Paul in my head, but I'm okay now."

"I'm glad to hear it," her mom said with a gentle smile, "Should we go down and fix lunch? Your grandmother will be here soon to begin cooking dinner and God only knows how many people she invited."

"Sounds good," Abby said and the two of them walked out of her bedroom together. Things weren't perfect at the cabin; there was still some residual fear present, but it was a lot better than any of them thought it would be.


	71. Chapter 71

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 71

**~I know I promised to update my other story in this 'verse, _The Great Pumpkin Con_ by Thursday, but I forgot that I would be grading over 100 midterm papers this weekend. I hope to have that story and this one updated again by Monday evening.**

* * *

Dave was back in the ER in New York, his shoulder throbbing with pain from the bullet that had entered it less than an hour previously. He heard the loud shouts coming from outside of his room and he desperately waited to hear word about his wife. Finally there was a knock at the door and a doctor came into his small exam room.

"Agent Rossi?" She asked, her head down so he couldn't see her face.

"That's me," he said tensely, "How is my wife?"

The doctor looked up, it was Suzette. "Sorry Davie, she didn't make it," she said with fake sympathy, "And neither will you," she said as she pulled a gun out from her white coat pocket. As she took aim at his chest, there was another knock on his door.

"Dad?" Abby said, stepping into the small room. Suzette turned and pointed the gun in her direction, but Abby was too shocked to move.

"Run Abby!" He screamed, but it was too late. Suzette pulled the trigger three times and all three bullets landed point blank in his daughter's chest. She hit the floor with a dull thud, her own blood immediately pooling beneath her. Dave stared at her in horror, but he could see from the blank expression in her open eyes that she was already dead.

"Oops," Suzette giggled, "You should really call a doctor for her, David," she said as she took careful aim at him. He found himself closing his eyes, not caring that death was almost upon him; if his wife and daughter were dead, he didn't have any reason to live. His eyes still closed, he heard the door to his exam room open again and then he heard the screams as Suzette cocked the gun and-

With a gasp, Dave sat bolt upright in his bed. He was breathing harder than he thought was possible and his heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest. As his eyes darted around the room, he realized it had all been a dream and the screams he had heard at the end of it was, in fact, laughter coming from the first floor.

He wiped his face as he got up from the master bed; he had sobbed in his sleep and his face was a mess of both tears and sweat. He desperately wanted to go down and take his wife and daughter into his arms to prove to himself they were okay but he knew if he went down in his current state he would frighten them, and lord knew they didn't need that right now

He entered the master bathroom, turned the shower as hot as it would go and got in. As he soaped himself up, he tried to breathe deeply through his nose as the antiseptic smell of the hospital combined with his daughters blood was still stuck in his mind. When he hung the washcloth over the small bar in the back of the stall, he noticed his hand was shaking and he knew the dream had deeply affected him. He wasn't usually one for nightmares; after all he had seen in his twenty-plus years in the FBI, horrendous things usually didn't tend to make an appearance in his dreams anymore, but apparently the ordeal with his family had changed all of that. He wondered if Abby's nightmares were as bad as the one he had just experienced and he fervently prayed they weren't because if they were, then she must be pretty close to the edge by now.

Turning off the water, he quickly towel dried himself off, put on some well-worn jeans and a flannel shirt and padded down the stairs to check on his girls. To his surprise, the two of them were in the kitchen with his mother and they were all wearing smiles as they prepared various food items. Abby was the first to spot him standing in the doorway.

"Hey dad, did you have a good nap?" She asked as she chopped tomatoes. He quickly crossed the room and engulfed her in a tight hug. "Whoa," she said surprised. "I just saw you two hours ago." Feeling her dad shaking slightly, she freed her arm that was holding a tomato, set it down on the counter and hugged him back.

"What's wrong Davie?" Marie asked, her mother's intuition telling her that something was wrong with her eldest child.

"Bad dream," he said as he finally released his daughter. Without a word, he crossed over to his wife, who was standing near the sink spin drying some lettuce, and gathered her into the same bone crushing hug as he had their daughter.

"I'm going to go ahead and assume the dream was about us," JJ said, once her husband had released her and she had regained her breath.

Dave nodded, "It was horrible, but I really don't want to talk about it anymore."

"Funny," Abby said, "When I said I didn't want to talk about _my _dreams, I got carted off to a shrink against my will." Seeing the looks her parents were giving her, Abby quickly backtracked. "Sorry, that's the last time I'll say anything about it," she promised.

"I'll take that bet," Dave muttered and then changed the subject. "So who's all coming tonight?"

Marie ticked off the names on her fingers as she listed them, "Aaron, Jack, Emily, Jimmy and the man who watched Abby while you were away this last time. What was his name? Jared? Jeremy?"

"Jethro," Dave said. "But he goes by Gibbs."

"That's right," Marie said, "He has one of those funny southern names, but he isn't southern."

"No Garcia, Morgan or Reid?" Dave asked as he grabbed a cut carrot from the pile in front of his wife. "And has the entire world gone topsy-turvy? You're helping with dinner?" Dave asked JJ incredulously.

JJ looked affronted, while Abby began laughing. "You should have been down here twenty minutes ago, dad!" She said between her giggling fits. "Nonna asked mom to put the tomatoes in the food processor so she could make her sauce, but she didn't tell mom to put the lid on it. We _just_ finished wiping down all of the surfaces!"

"Well how was _I_ supposed to know that would happen?" JJ scowled at her daughter. "Everyone knows I don't cook!"

"You're right Jennifer," Marie said soothingly, but she had a twinkle in her eye and it looked like she was trying really hard not to smile. "We _should_ have explained the need for a lid to you."

Dave didn't bother holding back his grin, "Why were you doing trying to help them?" He asked her.

"I was in here talking with Marie and Abby and I felt like I needed to do _something_, so I asked if there was anything I could do. I didn't know they would have me operating major appliances!"

"Major appliances?" Abby repeated, "It's not like we asked you to broil something mom, we asked you to put tomatoes in the food processor!" Abby began laughing again and Dave could tell that his wife was beginning to get seriously pissed off, so he decided to intervene.

"Shouldn't you be taking it easy?" He asked his daughter and she immediately calmed down.

"I am," she said, "I'm only chopping vegetables; I'm not running a marathon."

He shook his head, "I think you should squeeze in a nap before everyone gets here."

"But I'm not tired," she whined.

Marie had to bite her tongue from butting in; it was obvious by the dark circles under the teen's eyes that she _was_ tired. Her son, being the skilled profiler that he was, didn't fall for it.

"You look exhausted Pumpkin and you need to get your rest before you go back to school on Monday."

"I know," she said, "But I really don't want to take a nap. What if I go and sit out on the porch swing instead?" The porch swing was her favorite place at the cabin and she'd missed being able to sit on it and think about things.

Dave thought for a minute, glanced at his wife who gave a small nod, and then looked back at his daughter. "Okay, but you're going to bed as soon as everyone leaves tonight. Deal?"

"Deal," she said as she took off her apron and hung it on a hook in the pantry. On her way back through the kitchen, she grabbed a mug, filled it with coffee and headed for the front door. Before she was totally out of the room though, she turned around and said, "Once you're all done in here, feel free to join me out on the porch." She tried to make it sound like a friendly invitation, but in truth she was still scared to be by herself and she didn't want to admit that to everyone and sound like a big baby.

JJ picked up on her daughter's hidden message and nodded, "We'll be out there soon, okay honey?"

Abby nodded and made her way to the porch. Once outside, she settled in the corner of the swing and then let out a contented sigh; it had been too long since she'd last been able to sit out there and she planned on making up for lost time.

* * *

**_A/N 2: And now for some shameful self-promoting...I've been nominated for the _****Profiler's Choice Criminal Minds Awards **in numerous categories, including best overall author (which I REALLY wasn't expecting), best OC driven story and a bunch of other ones. Please check out the final ballot at http:/ / forum. fanfiction .net /topic/74868/33067839/1/ (remove the spaces). Be sure to vote before November 30, 2010!


	72. Chapter 72

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 72

**A few notes: **

**~Since it's Veteran's day here in the US, I want to take the time to thank all former and current military personnel for their service to the country.**

**~I hope to have 'Great Pumpkin Con' and 'The Crappiest Place on Earth' both finished by the end of this weekend (if the fates sync up and allow me time to write).**

**~This is a monster chapter but since I haven't posted in a couple of days (and I've had a major case of writer's block), I decided to keep it long instead of breaking it up. Enjoy! Be sure to review and let me know what you think of the story so far.**

_**~My postings will probably be more sporadic over the next few months. School is killing me right now and it's only going to get worse over the next few months. **_

* * *

Three hours later, as Abby was listening to Emily, her father and Gibbs debate the best way to tackle an unsub, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" She cried, jumping to her feet; anything to get her away from that mind numbingly boring discussion. Thirty seconds later, every armed person in the room drew their weapons as they heard a loud scream rip through the air. Almost as if they had choreographed it, everyone jumped to their feet and ran towards the door, all of them imagining a psycho threatening the teenager who had been through so much over the past month. The sight that greeted them was much different. Instead of some crazed unsub, another teenage girl stood on the porch and her screams matched Abby's, both in timing and in pitch, and they were both jumping up and down.

As the four armed federal agents secured their sidearms, the kids finally calmed down and JJ greeted their newest visitor, "Hello Becca, it's good to see you."

The seventeen year-old tore herself from Abby's embrace and moved towards JJ, "I'm so glad you're alright JJ," she said as she gave her a gentle hug. Rebecca Butler had been one of Abby's closest friends since they were both twelve years old. JJ had gotten to know the girl well over the years and she was glad her daughter had a close girlfriend she could confide in. While JJ adored Jack and was thrilled that he and Abby had become good friends, she knew there were certain things that a girl could only confide in another girl and Becca fit that bill perfectly for Abby.

"Good God Abby, I think you took a couple of years off my life with your screaming!" Dave exclaimed as she stepped back into the cabin with Becca next to her. Seeing they had an additional guest, Dave greeted her warmly, "Hi Becca, how was South Dakota?" While he hadn't known Abby's friend as long as JJ had, Dave also liked the girl and was glad that Abby had a close friend that was outside of the BAU circle.

"Hi Mr. Rossi, South Dakota was…well, let's just say I'll never complain about being bored again," she told him as she glanced around the entryway. While she knew everyone there, it was a little strange to be the center of attention.

"It wasn't exactly a happening place, huh?" Dave asked with a grin.

Becca shook her head, "THAT is an understatement. My grandparents live on the edge of a tiny town and they didn't have cable TV, there was no cell phone reception and I didn't have any Wi-Fi signal for my laptop."

"Good God!" Abby exclaimed, "You might as well have been visiting Amish country."

The adults in the room smiled at the teen woes and moved out of the way as Marie entered the foyer. "Rebecca, you made it! I was hoping you would; Abby needs to see some of her friends before she returns to school."

"Hey, what am I?" Jack asked, groggily. He'd just arrived home from Costa Rica and he was a bit tired.

Marie gave him a gentle smile, "Of course you're her friend Jack, I meant she needed to see some of her girl friends."

"Okay then," he said grumpily and returned to the sofa in the great room, where he promptly dozed off."

"How come you didn't come for dinner?" Abby asked as they made their way into the cabin.

"My parents are suddenly into the 'whole family dinner' thing. I think they finally realized I'll be going off to college soon and they want to smother me before I leave," Becca told her. "I got into UCLA."

"Oh my God, Becca! Congratulations, you must be ecstatic!" Abby was thrilled for her friend, as she knew the school in California was her first choice for college.

"Congrats Becca," Dave said. "What do your parents think about you moving three thousand miles away?"

"Well, like I said, family dinner," she replied with a smile. While the two girls went into the kitchen to continue their chatting, Dave walked back into the great room, thanking his lucky stars that his daughter would be attending a college in town instead of far away from them.

"So how are things here? How did your parents react to your jail break?" Becca asked as she sat down at the kitchen island. She watched as Abby and her grandmother prepared the dessert, "Can I help with anything, Mrs. Rossi?" She asked.

Marie shook her head, "I think Abby and I have it under control," she said, "And it's 'Nonna,' not Mrs. Rossi."

Becca nodded and turned back to her friend, "So, how'd it go?"

Abby gave her a wry smile, "Well let's put it this way; since I snuck out, my parents and I have been shot at, tormented by a crazy lady, I spent time in the hospital, none of us are sleeping and I'm _still_ grounded."

Marie couldn't help but purse her lips when she heard her granddaughter's mini-rant; she knew all about what the teen had done by sneaking out and the attitude she'd given her parents when she had been dragged back home and she knew that whatever the restrictions she'd received were fair ones, but she was surprised that her son and daughter-in-law still had those restrictions in place. If it had been Marie, she would have probably let it go by now, but Abby must have terrified her parents to still be grounded.

"That sucks," Becca commiserated, "Do you think you'll be sprung by next weekend?"

"Maybe, why?"

"We need to start shopping for our prom dresses! The dance is a month away and we need to get ready," Becca told her.

Abby had to stifle a groan, she felt like she had been on another planet for the past month. "I don't know if I'll be able to go that soon," she told her friend, "I'm still technically recovering from my concussion and I don't know if my parents will let me out of their collective sight for that long." Plus, she wasn't exactly sure where she was in her relationship with Jack; were they still just friends? Could they move back to being boyfriend/girlfriend easily? Did she even want to? Shaking her head slightly, she put the topic into a box in her head, although if truth be told, those mental boxes were filling up rapidly.

Seeing her granddaughter's discomfort with the current topic of discussion, Marie intervened. "I think dessert is ready," she said, lifting the cherry cheesecake off of the counter. "Abby, you can grab the plates and Becca can grab the silverware." Both girls nodded, collected their assigned items and followed Marie out to the backyard deck.

xxxxxxxxxx

An hour later, after everyone had had their fill of the scrumptious dessert, Abby found herself back in the kitchen; this time she was making coffee for everyone. She'd just said goodbye to Becca, who had to leave early for a date, and she found herself standing alone in the large room. As she looked around, she tried to control her breathing; since she and her parents had arrived back at the cabin, Abby hadn't been alone in any part of it except for her bedroom, and even then the door to her room remained open as did her parents.

Just as she felt herself begin to really freak out, she heard a voice behind her. "Need any help?" She turned and saw the face of her longtime friend, and possibly boyfriend, behind her.

"Thanks Jack, but I've got it," she said, trying to keep the shakiness out of her voice. "I wouldn't mind some company though."

Jack nodded and leaned against the counter, "How are you doing?"

Abby sighed, "I'm…okay but I really don't want to talk about me right now, what about you? How was Costa Rica?"

Jack regaled her with tales of the rainforest while she brewed the precious caffeinated beverage. When he was done, they sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes.

"Have you decided on which college you're going to go to?" Jack finally asked, breaking the peacefulness of the room.

Abby groaned, "Not yet, but I know I'll have to decide soon. Dad's been making noises about sending in my paperwork for Georgetown and he's _strongly_ suggesting that I don't send a housing deposit."

"How about you? What do _you _want to do?" Jack asked as he grabbed a cookie off of a plate on the counter.

"That's just it; I still don't know what I want to do! I still want to have a new experience and I think UC Berkely would be great for that, but I don't want my parents to think I'm leaving to escape everything. I just…I don't know," she said. "How about you? Have you decided if you're even going next year?"

Jack shook his head, "I was hoping my time in Costa Rica would help me have a great revelation, but it didn't."

They sat in silence for another minute, Jack looking more and more uncomfortable as each second passed. "Um, Abby?" He finally said and she looked up at him. "I was wondering...do you want to go to the prom with me? I don't know if you still need time to process everything that happened, if you still need me to be your 'friend' Jack instead of your 'boyfriend' Jack, but we could totally go as friends if you want to."

As he stammered out his prom invite, Abby felt a warmth spread through her body; she might be unsure about everything else in her life, but she was totally, one-hundred percent positive that she was madly in love with the guy in front of her. Without saying a word, she walked over to where he was standing and gave him a fierce kiss. He looked startled at first, but then he smiled against her lips and deepened the kiss. By the time they were both growing dizzy from a lack of oxygen, their arms had wrapped around each other and they were in their own little world. Their bubble of bliss was finally interrupted by the clearing of a throat.

As soon as the two teens heard the noise, it snapped them back to reality and they jumped apart to see Gibbs standing in the doorway to the kitchen. "I was just checking on the coffee. I was wondering what was taking so long, and now I know," he said, trying to hold back a smile. He knew he should be coming down on the kids for their public make out session, but he'd been a teenager before and hell, neither of them were his kids, so he pretty much let it go.

"Oh!" Abby said, suddenly remembering why she was in the kitchen in the first place. She grabbed the coffee pot and poured it into the mugs that were on the tray on the kitchen counter. "It's all ready; I'll bring it out to everyone."

Gibbs shook his head, "I want to talk to you for a minute," he said, snagging one of the cups. "I'm sure your boyfriend would love to take these outside."

"Yes sir," Jack said, grateful that the tough agent hadn't outright killed him when he first walked into the kitchen.

Abby also grabbed a mug as Jack took the tray out to the deck and she sipped from it as she waited for Gibbs to speak. She didn't have to wait long.

"You gonna give your parents a hard time over the next couple of weeks?" He asked her as he drank from his own mug.

"No," Abby said, confused.

"You're not going to give them crap for making you see a shrink? Because I'll tell you Abs, they don't need it right now; your dad is as close to the edge as I've ever seen him and your mom still looks like shit from the shooting. What they need is for you to get on board with all of this, because worrying about you isn't going to help them," he told her.

"I know," Abby said quietly. "I'll admit, I was pissed that they sprung it on me this morning, but once I was there I actually _liked_ talking to Dr. Kendall and I didn't fight them about making another appointment. I know my parents have gone through hell and I know they're worried about me so no, I'm not going to 'give them crap' over this. Okay?"

Gibbs smiled, "Okay then, I'm glad we got that straight. There's another thing we need to get straight; if your dad _ever_ needs my help to get you out of a dangerous situation again, it won't be as discreet as what happened when we picked you up from that party; I'll make such a scene, I'll be nominated for an Emmy. Understand?"

Abby swallowed hard, "Yes," she practically whispered.

"Good," Gibbs said with a slight smile. "You're lucky, after everything that happened, if you were my kid I wouldn't let you out of my sight for the next ten years."

Abby snorted, "I wouldn't put it past dad to try and plant a tracking device on me when I'm not looking."

They were both still chuckling over that image as they re-joined the group on the deck.

xxxxxxxxxx

The weekend passed quickly for the Rossi family; they took short walks around the property, they watched movies and they all pretty much rested up for the week ahead of them.

On Sunday night, JJ awoke from a light doze in the great room and found her daughter missing from the room. Sitting up, she noticed it was nearly nine o'clock, and while it was a fairly early bedtime for Abby, JJ knew she wouldn't sleep through the night and she needed as much sleep as possible for her return to school the next day, so she began looking for her. She was surprised when she didn't find her in either the kitchen or her bedroom and she finally poked her head in the study.

"Have you seen Abby?" JJ asked her husband, who was sitting behind his desk, looking through some papers.

He looked up at her, "No, I don't think she's been in here since...that night."

JJ understood her daughter's hesitation at coming into this particular room, even just standing in the doorway conjured up horrific memories in JJ's mind and she gave a slight shudder, "Okay, I'll keep looking for her."

She made her way down the hall and as she passed by the front windows, she saw a familiar figure curled up in the corner of the porch swing. JJ grabbed her jacket from the hook near the door and stepped out onto the porch.

"Mind if I join you?" She asked. Abby turned her head to face her and JJ was surprised to see she was silently crying. "Are you okay honey?" She asked as she sat down next to her daughter and wrapped her arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah, I don't know what's wrong with me; I came out here for some fresh air and I started thinking about things and now I can't stop crying. Sorry," she said sheepishly, as she wiped her face with the back of her hand.

"You _never _have to apologize for crying, Abby. Ever," JJ told her. "With all that's gone on, I'd be more surprised if you _weren't _crying. You know you can always talk to me about what's going on in your head, right? And if I'm not available, you can always talk to your dad; and now you have Dr. Kendall to add to that list. I'm sure that seeing her will help you with a lot of this."

"Yeah, I know, but…" Abby trailed off, but JJ didn't let her get away with it.

"But what, Abby? Why did you fight us so hard about seeing her?"

Abby drew in a shuddery breath, "What if she tells me I'm broken? What if she tells me I'm damaged beyond repair? What if this is the rest of my life? I don't know if I can live the rest of my life feeling so scared and so lost."

JJ's heart broke for her daughter, "You're not broken honey, and you're certainly NOT beyond repair. What happened will always be a part of you, but you'll get past it, you'll be happy and confident again."

"Promise?" Abby asked, smiling at her mom.

"I promise," JJ said firmly.

They sat in silence for another few minutes before a deep voice asked, "Can I join you, or is this a girl talk kind of thing?" Dave asked from the door, not wanting to interrupt their time alone.

Both Abby and JJ turned to look at him. "You can come out, dad," Abby said.

Dave stepped out onto the porch and came around in front of the porch swing. Rather than join his girls in the comfy seat, he leaned against the porch railing, facing them.

"Nervous about tomorrow?" Dave asked his daughter. He sure as hell was; it was the first time their daughter would be away from them, other than the day she snuck out, and he found himself wanting to keep her safe with them at the cabin.

"Yeah, a little," Abby told him. Part of her was looking forward to a return to normalcy, while the other part of her was terrified to be away from home for so long. What if something happened? She was used to having her parents nearby and she was scared of giving up that security.

Taking a breath, Dave said, "I think this is as good a time as any to talk about your restrictions."

Abby felt her heart plummet, she knew she'd screwed up by sneaking out, but it had been over two weeks since it had happened. You'd think with all they'd been through, they could cut her some slack, but that was apparently not in her future.

"I'll give you back your laptop tomorrow morning and you can use it at school, in the study and in the great room, but not in your bedroom," he told her and Abby brightened at this, even if she was restricted in her usage of it.

"We'll be driving you to and from school for awhile, partly because of your concussion, but mostly because you still need to earn back our trust and that's going to take awhile," JJ said as she continued her husband's train of thought. "You're still restricted to the house and if you need to go somewhere to study or if you have errands to run, we'll evaluate those on a case by case basis."

"For how long?" Abby asked, trying to keep her annoyance out of her voice. "It's already been two weeks."

"I don't know how long it will take for you to earn our trust back. You _really _screwed up and it's going to take more time for us to trust you again," her dad said.

"Right backatcha," Abby muttered under her breath.

"What did you say?" Dave asked; he'd heard her mumbling, but he hadn't made out the words.

"I _said_, 'right backatcha," Abby told him, with a hint of attitude in her voice.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dave asked, surprised by her reaction; he thought that he and JJ were going easy on her, all things considered.

'Shut up Abby, shut up; don't make things worse!' Her brain kept telling her, but unfortunately, Abby ignored the little voice in her head. "It just seems hypocritical that after you threatened to leave us the other day, I was supposed to go back to completely trusting you, yet _I_ have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get _your_ trust back!"

JJ hid a slight smile, Abby was right, it wasn't fair but she knew her husband had a different sense of fairness than they did.

"First of all," Dave said, "I didn't _threaten_ to leave again, I _offered_ to leave in order to keep you and your mother safe."

Abby snorted, "Semantics dad."

"Second," he said, ignoring her interruption, "It's different for me, I'm the parent, and you should always have a general sense of trust in me. I know I screwed up by talking about leaving, but you sweetheart, put the fear of God into both mine and your mother's hearts, not to mention the way you treated us afterwards. I think a little more restriction is needed because of that, and so does your mother."

Hearing her name, JJ nodded in agreement and Abby knew she wasn't going to win the argument, so she shut up before her parents decided to ground her even further. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence before Abby finally broke it by standing up.

"I'm going to jump in the shower and then go to bed; I'm not used to getting up early for school." She made her way towards the door but she didn't like the note their discussion was ending on, so she turned back towards her parents, "Love you guys," she said.

Both of them smiled, "Love you too honey," JJ said.

"Love ya Pumpkin," Dave told her.

Abby smiled as she went back into the cabin and began gearing up for her first day back in the real world.


	73. Chapter 73

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 73

* * *

Annoyed at the brilliant sunshine that threatened to pull her from her sleepy state, Abby rolled over in her bed, reluctantly cracked one of her eyes open and glanced at her bedside clock. She was confused when she saw the time, which read twelve twenty-one. If it was twelve twenty-one, it should be much, much darker in her room. Suddenly she realized what had happened; she'd overslept on a school day! It was twelve twenty-one in the afternoon! As both of her eyes popped open she sat up quickly, wondering why her parents hadn't awakened her earlier that morning. Just as she was about to jump out of her bed, she looked over and saw her father sitting in the easy chair in her room and he was dozing with a book held firmly in his hands. Rather than waking him, Abby paused and thought about last few days.

Her return to school on Monday had been eventful. She was constantly hounded by both students and teachers about her time away and it got old really quickly. It hadn't helped that she had awakened with a headache, but hadn't told her parents about it, and by the end of the day all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball on her bed and sleep. It was rough for someone like her to find herself as the center of attention. During her school days, she had always tried keeping a low profile. Sure, she had friends in both high and low places and she was an athlete and a brainiac, but she always tried to keep out of the gossip loop. Unfortunately, all of her work was for naught and she prayed that something would soon happen that would take the attention off of her.

Not only was it stressful but it had also been weird being back at school; a large part of her was nervous being away from her parents for so long. After all they'd been through, she hadn't been away from them since her mother had been shot and it was weird to be on her own again. Of course, she wasn't totally on her own, both Jack and Becca took turns walking with her to her various classes and her A-list friend, Taylor, had tried spreading the word to leave her alone, but it hadn't totally worked.

After school on both Monday and Thursday, she'd had her therapy sessions with Dr. Kendall and as much as she didn't want to admit it to her parents, they were helping. She didn't have that panicky feeling twenty-four hours a day that she'd had previously and she could tell that her nightmares were getting better. While she still had the bad dreams, they were less intense and she had more control over them. She knew it would take awhile for her to get back to one hundred percent, but for the first time in a long time, she was confident that she would eventually get there.

She was pulled from her reverie by her dad changing positions in his chair. She watched him for a minute and then saw his eyes slowly open and he gave a lazy stretch.

"I overslept," she told him.

He nodded and yawned, "I know, I was the one who turned off your alarm."

"What?" She screeched, "Why would you do that? We had a deal! You _know_ I can't miss any more school!" Her dad had lived up to his end of their bargain; since she'd agreed to meet with Dr. Kendall, he hadn't stood in her way of going back to school on Monday…well, he hadn't verbally stood in her way but the expression on his face that day, and on the days that followed, had made it pretty clear that he thought she was returning to school too quickly.

"Pumpkin, when I woke up at five this morning to use the bathroom, it dawned on me that you had slept through the night. Do you know how long it's been since that's happened?"

Abby blushed and nodded; it had been a LONG time since she hadn't awakened the entire house with her nightmares.

"I went to check on you and I saw that you were in a deep sleep and I knew you needed your sleep more than you needed to sit through a school day. I know we had a deal, but I wanted you to get caught up on some of the sleep you've missed," he told her.

Abby glanced at the clock again; she knew that once she took a shower, got ready and then made the commute into the city, it would be too late for her to make it to even her last class of the day, so she sighed resignedly. "I guess you were right," she admitted, feeling well rested for the first time in a long time. "I can't believe I slept for over fifteen hours."

"I know, I got tired just watching you!" Dave told her with a chuckle. He too felt well rested. While he hadn't slept for over fifteen hours like his daughter had, it had been his first night of uninterrupted sleep in over a month and both he and his wife had also slept very deeply. As a result, the entire household was more awake and relaxed than they had been in quite a while.

He gave another lazy stretch and then stood up. "Why don't you hit the shower and then come down for lunch? Your mother's been working on it for a little while and it should be ready by the time you're out."

Abby gave him a horrified look and he clarified what he'd just said, "She's fixing sandwiches and leftover soup, she's not cooking. I doubt even she can screw up sandwiches."

"You'd be surprised," Abby muttered as she got out of bed. She looked up in time to see her father try to hide a smile. As soon as he left the room, she undressed, got into the shower and let the hot spray relax her even further.

While his daughter was standing under the shower, Dave went into his own bedroom to change into a t-shirt. As he swapped his clothing, he too reflected on the past week. One of the hardest things he'd ever done was to let her out of the car in front of her school on Monday morning. A large part of him wanted to keep her at the cabin for the rest of her life, along with her mother, so they would remain safe form the evils in the world. If he'd driven her to school by himself, he was sure he would have gotten out of the car and dragged her back in before she hit the schoolhouse door, but JJ had been with him and her sanity had prevailed. That didn't mean he hadn't watched the clock all day; in fact he'd driven his wife nearly insane by constantly checking the time and when three o'clock had finally rolled around and Abby hadn't emerged from the school, he'd been ready to call the SWAT team to follow him in to search for her. He was just about to call for backup from the BAU when she suddenly appeared at the car. She explained that she had stayed after class to talk to one of her teachers, but that hadn't alleviated the raw panic Dave had felt.

That panic followed him into his dreams many times. Instead of getting better, his nightmares were getting worse. They all played around the same theme, his girls dying in front of him while he helplessly watched. Sometimes it was Will who killed them, but most of the time it was Suzette and the vivid imagery in his dreams made it seem one hundred percent real. He longed for just one night where he wasn't plagued by the bad dreams, but that didn't seem to be in the cards for him and due to his lack of sleep, combined with the residual fear leftover from the previous month, he found himself losing his patients with JJ and Abby much more than he ever had before, and he knew that was the one thing that neither of them needed.

As he made his way down the stairs, he heard singing coming from the kitchen, and he stopped in the doorway and smiled. It had been a long time since he heard a truly happy sound in the cabin, and his wife's singing along to the radio was literally music to his ears. It was strange, but his wife was the one who had been affected the least by everything that had happened, which was ironic seeing as she'd almost died because of it, but since she'd been the one to be injured, she hadn't witnessed everything that had happened during the time she was in the hospital. He knew that watching the doctors perform CPR on her would be indelibly imprinted in his memory for the rest of his life as would the fear of not knowing while they waited for some word, _any_ word from the doctors regarding her condition. Not to mention that she hadn't been there for Will's attack and she hadn't seen that talking pile of shit holding a knife to their daughter's throat. Even the night of hell with Suzette was fuzzier to her since she had taken her painkillers less than two hours before the attack. That wasn't to say she hadn't been affected; hell, he knew that the attack by Suzette would haunt her just the way it haunted him, but he didn't think it had affected her quite as deeply as it had him.

As he stepped into the room, he smelled burnt bread and he looked at the counter and realized his daughter had been right, it _was _possible for JJ to screw up sandwiches. The platter held sandwiches that were composed of burnt and mangled toast, small amounts of deli meat, wilted lettuce and green tomatoes. The soup was boiling in a pot on the stove and it looked as though it had been for some time. Dave shook his head, partly in amazement and partly in frustration; he'd told her numerous times that it _was _possible to burn tomato soup, but she'd apparently forgotten his numerous lessons.

Turning from the cabinet that held the plates, JJ spotted her husband in the doorway and smiled. "Is she awake?" JJ asked, coming over to give him a kiss.

"She is," he said, holding his wife in his arms for a moment. When he thought about how many times he'd nearly lost her the over the past six weeks, it made his blood run cold and he held her a little tighter.

JJ, who felt safe and secure in her husband's arms, finally pulled away from him. "Can you grab a few bottles of water from the fridge?" She asked as she poured the sketchy looking soup into a large thermos. Seeing his questioning look, JJ explained, "It's such a beautiful day out, I thought we could have a picnic down by the creek." She had ulterior motives for this; she was going to bring up a potentially explosive topic and she wanted her husband relaxed and at peace before she did it and the clearing by the creek usually did that for him.

Dave put the bottles of water on the counter, "Are you sure that's not too far for you?"

"I'll be fine Dave, it's a short walk."

His brow furrowed, but he didn't offer any more protests. Instead, he put the interesting looking sandwiches in a Tupperware container and handed it to JJ who placed it in the picnic basket, along with everything else. Once they were finally packed they waited for Abby, who showed up a few minutes later looking well rested and relaxed.

They made the short hike to the creek, choked down the lunch JJ had made for them and then soaked up the warm sunshine. They talked about nothing important and it was an easy conversation, until Dave and Abby began planning for the following week.

Since they were still driving Abby to and from school, and both Dave and JJ were still on leave, Abby was giving a rundown of her schedule so they knew when to arrive at school in the afternoon. While Abby was still on restriction, they hadn't grounded her from her after school activities, so she had a different end time for most days.

While her daughter and husband coordinated their schedules, JJ sat at the edge of the picnic blanket and began shoring up her courage. She knew what she was about to bring up would not be popular with her husband and she knew that Abby could go either way on it, although she hoped the teen would be on her side.

Taking a deep breath, JJ interrupted their planning. "Um, guys? We may need to re-tool the schedule."

Dave looked confused, "Why Jen?"

Looking her husband in the eye, she said, "Because I'm going back to work next week."

* * *

**_A/N 2: And now for some shameful self-promoting...I've been nominated for the _****Profiler's Choice Criminal Minds Awards **in numerous categories, including best overall author (which I REALLY wasn't expecting), best OC driven story and a bunch of other ones. Please check out the final ballot at http:/ / forum. fanfiction .net /topic/74868/33067839/1/ (remove the spaces). Be sure to vote before November 30, 2010!


	74. Chapter 74

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 74

* * *

Thinking his wife was joking, Dave chuckled, "Right and then after that, we're going to go take a trip to the moon." He expected JJ to smile at that and was surprised to see her brow furrow.

"I'm serious Dave, I'm returning to work next week."

The smile slid from his face, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about me going back to work next week," JJ said repeated slowly and calmly.

"Absolutely not!" Dave said firmly, wondering if she'd lost her mind. Did she really think he would stand by and let her return to her job more than a month ahead of schedule?

"Dave listen, it's not that big of a deal-" JJ started, but was cut off by her irate husband.

"Not a big deal?" He yelled incredulously, "Trust me Jen, it's a _very _big deal! You seriously want to go back to work this soon? What about what the doctor said? He said mid-May at the earliest and it's not even mid-April yet! What about your sabbatical? I thought you wanted to take the summer off? I thought-"

"Dave, would you shut up and listen for a minute?" JJ said loudly, interrupting her husband's rant.

Abby squirmed uncomfortably on her corner of the picnic blanket. She was used to her parents arguing but was never really comfortable being near them when they did it and she was torn as to what she should do. While she had her own opinion about her mother returning to work so much earlier than planned, there was no _way_ she was going to get caught in the middle of this fight, especially since it wasn't just 'mom and dad' fighting here, it was also an argument between 'agents Rossi and Jareau,' and she never liked getting caught in the middle of those two. In fact, the last time she got involved in an argument between agents Rossi and Jareau, it had to do with her mother's decision to use her maiden name at work, in order to prevent confusion. Needless to say, her conservative and traditional father hadn't liked that one bit and their argument had gone on for days before Abby finally used some of the feminist rhetoric she had picked up over the years and told her father that her mother was an independent woman and just because she was married to him didn't make her his property and that he should just chill out about the whole thing. After her father had unfairly banished her to her room for the rest of the day, she'd vowed that any time agents Rossi and Jareau entered the picture at home, she would leave it.

While she really wanted to hightail it back to the cabin so she was out of range of the coming fireworks, she also still had a deep seeded fear about being alone. Talking to Dr. Kendall had helped with that, since she was no longer as afraid to be in a room by herself, but the entire cabin? She knew that would be pushing it. Seeing her father's face turning red and the sparks shooting from her mother's eyes, Abby knew she had to go somewhere, _anywhere_ that wasn't in the vicinity of her parents, so she stood up and grabbed her bottle of water as she did so.

"Um, I'm just going to go down to the creek," she said, pointing to the small river bed that was about twenty feet away from them.

Neither of her parents looked at her, they just absently nodded. Abby took a few steps towards the creek when a thought hit her. She was still grounded but she _really_ wanted to see Jack that weekend, since she missed their lunch date by staying home from school. She remembered what Becca had told her once, about asking for things while her parents were arguing. According to her friend, she waited until her parents were fighting to ask for things she knew she didn't have much of a chance of getting under normal circumstances. She told Abby the results were mixed; half of the time she got what she wanted and the other times she usually got into trouble for trying to get her way while her parents were distracted. Calculating her risks and the possible consequences, Abby decided to go for broke.

She took two steps back towards the picnic blanket and asked quickly, "Is it okay if Jack comes over tomorrow night to watch movies?"

"Fine, go ahead," Dave said, his eyes still locked on his wife. Abby grinned and scurried towards the bank of the creek. She couldn't believe it had worked! Once she got to the creek and was out of her parent's earshot, she pulled her newly returned cell phone out of her pocket, called Jack and arranged their date.

While Abby was scheming with her boyfriend, JJ and Dave were locked in a quiet, but tense battle of wills, each one glaring at the other. Dave finally broke the silence.

"I'm listening Jennifer, please tell me what's so important that you would risk your health, hell, your _life_ for."

JJ's eyes narrowed; she absolutely _hated _it when her husband talked to her as though she was a child and he knew it. Taking a deep breath and telling herself to remain calm, JJ spoke. "You know that the twentieth anniversary of the movie '_The Silence of the Lambs_' is coming up next year, right?"

Dave nodded, he'd been a member of the BAU when the movie had first been released and he remembered the movie researchers who had parked themselves in the BAU bunker in order to get information for the film. While he'd liked the end result, he'd hated those weeks where the Hollywood weenies had made their already cramped quarters even more cluttered.

"Because of that, and due to our shootings and some of the other high profile cases we've worked this year, PBS is doing a documentary on the BAU and how it's changed since its inception. Strauss gave the green light for a camera crew to be in the bullpen for the entire upcoming week and she let the team know they are to be available for interviews with the producers," she told her husband.

"Son of a bitch!" Dave exclaimed, "Does she realize that not everyone is an attention whore like she is? Not everyone wants their fifteen minutes of fame!"

JJ had to bite back a grin when he said that, seeing as he was the most famous member of their team, if not the entire FBI. "Exactly, you see now why I have to go back, right? Can you imagine Reid giving an interview without someone there to hold his hand? How about Emily? The first time they bring up her family and insinuate any connections between her mother and her place on the team, it will turn violent!"

"You have a point, but you can't risk your own life just to protect the image of the BAU, Jen!" Dave said emphatically.

"It's my job, Dave!" JJ yelled, finally losing her patience. Why couldn't her husband see what was so glaringly obvious to her. "It's not like I'm going to be out in the field; I'll be keeping the peace between a nosy camera crew and a group of temperamental profilers. Even with tensions running high between the two camps, I doubt if gunfire will erupt!"

"That's not funny to even joke about," Dave said quietly, paling a little when he remembered his wife laying in the ICU after her gunshot wound.

"I'm sorry, I know it's too soon for jokes, but you need to see things from my perspective. I've worked at keeping the BAU's reputation pristine for seven long years. I kept our reputation intact after Elle killed a suspect in cold blood, I managed to gloss over Gideon's breakdown and abandonment of the team and I was able to keep Reid's addiction a total secret from the press. I'm not going to let all of my hard work be blown to hell and back because Hotch can't talk to the press!" JJ shouted.

"Is that what this is about?" Dave yelled back, "Did Aaron call you and ask you to come back?" God help his friend if he had, because if he had to choose between his best friend's life and that of his wife's, his friend would lose by a long shot.

"No, he didn't!" JJ shouted, not entirely lying. While their unit chief hadn't come right out and asked her to come back, his tone belayed desperation and when JJ told him she'd check into seeing about returning ahead of schedule, there had been definite relief in his voice. "It's about me doing my job! It's about me protecting the image of the BAU!"

"I could give a flying fuck about the BAU's image!" Dave roared, "The only thing I care about is protecting your health and well-being. The rest of the world can go to hell for all I care!"

JJ took another deep breath and tried to calm down. She knew nothing would be accomplished if they continued to shout at each other like maniacs. She also knew that Abby was nearby and while the teen was used to their heated arguments, she didn't want to add to her plate of worries.

"I spoke to Hotch and Strauss and I told them that if I came back to work, it would only be for the duration of time while the camera crew was there. I also told them if I did this, I expected that neither one of them would stand in my way of taking a sabbatical until September. They both agreed to my terms." Seeing her husband's mouth open, JJ pressed on, not letting him interrupt her. "I've also spoken to my doctor and, since I'll be at headquarters for the entire week and not out in the field, he doesn't see a problem with my temporary return to work."

"I don't give a shit about what your doctor said!" Dave told her, "I care about what _I_ think, and I think this is a really bad idea! We _just_ got our lives back and right now they're anything but normal. Do you really think this is a good time to put your media liaison hat back on? Not to mention the fact that you still want to return to work over a month ahead of schedule!"

"I feel fine, honey!" JJ said, trying to reassure him. "Our time cooped up here gave me a chance to heal without interruption. Yeah, I'm not back to one hundred percent yet, but I'm getting there and I'm not going to do anything physically taxing while I'm at headquarters; I'll just be holding the hands of camera shy profilers."

Dave shook his head, "I'm sorry honey, but I can't let you do this."

JJ's eyes narrowed, "I don't think you understand David, I'm not asking for your permission. I'm going back to work on Monday whether you like it or not."

He glared back at his wife, "You are NOT going to the BAU on Monday and that's final. I fucking forbid it!"

JJ's voice turned lethal, "Do _not _treat me like I'm a child David, I am NOT our daughter. I WILL be leaving our house at seven o'clock on Monday and I WILL be at the BAU by eight and that's final."

"Then it seems we're at an impasse," he said, his voice every bit as steely as his wife's.

"It looks like we are," JJ said as she got to her feet. "I need to clear my head, do _not_ follow me!" With that, she walked away from the picnic area and headed for one of the trails in the woods.

Dave gave an angry sigh as he watched his wife stalk off into the woods. He was as pissed with her as he'd ever been and he wasn't sure what he could do about it. After a few minutes of silent fuming, he began repacking the picnic basket, only looking up when Abby began helping him a minute later.

"Tell me you're not okay with this," Dave said quietly, not wanting to drag their daughter into the argument, but needing to hear her opinion.

Abby paused and looked at the blanket, she'd obviously heard everything her parents had said during their argument, hell the rest of the BAU team in Quantico probably heard it, and she had her own opinions on the matter, ones that didn't necessarily jive with her angry father.

"I think mom made some valid points, but I think a large part of her wanting to go back is so she can prove she's just as important and just as needed as you profilers are," she said quietly, not looking at her dad.

Dave hadn't thought about it that way, but wasn't going to let her go without giving her opinion, "But do you really think it's worth her risking her health and recovery just to prove her place on the team?"

Sighing, Abby looked at her dad, "Her doctors signed off on it, Uncle Aaron doesn't have a problem with it and since it's only for a week and she'll be at the BAU the entire time, I don't think we should stand in her way."

Dave's breath hissed out, that wasn't the answer he'd been hoping for. He had hoped, no, he'd _expected_ that Abby would be on his side and he'd planned on presenting a solid front to JJ. If worse had come to worse he wasn't above using their daughter in a massive guilt trip to keep JJ at the cabin, but since she wasn't firmly on his side, he didn't see that happening any time soon.

Abby, both seeing and hearing her dad's reaction, decided to press on. "I don't think mom's health is why you want to keep her at home; I think you want to keep her here so you can protect her, so you can keep any other bad thing from happening to her. You wanted to do the same thing with me, remember? I know it scares the hell out of you to imagine anything else happening to either one of us, but we can't all just stay here at the cabin for the rest of our lives."

Dave didn't say anything, he just resumed packing everything up, not saying a word. Once again Abby worked alongside of him until everything had been cleaned up and then they started their silent trek back to the cabin.

"Are you mad at me?" Abby finally asked. She could normally deal with her father's moods and in normal times she wouldn't have cared if he was pissed at her or not, but these weren't normal times and she couldn't deal with her father being angry with her, not when she had so many other things playing on her emotions.

"I'm not mad," he replied, "I'm frustrated. I think your mother's need for independence and equality among the team is blinding her and she's not seeing the very real dangers to her health and I think your devotion to your mother isn't helping the situation. But I'm not mad," he said, giving her a small smile as he took her hand and gave it a light, reassuring squeeze.

Abby gave him a small smile back as she resisted the urge to sigh in frustration. It was times like these where her dad's protective streak was a real pain in the ass. She wondered if he'd heard a word she'd said, or if he had ignored all of it because he didn't agree with it.

While Abby was pondering her dad's thought process, Dave was planning for round two of the argument with his wife, because if she thought the discussion was over, she was sorely mistaken.


	75. Chapter 75

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 75

**~Here's a fluffy chapter for everyone who requested more Jack and Abby. Enjoy!**

**~Remember, reviews make the world a sunnier place...**

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"Can you please remind me of when I gave you permission for this?" Dave asked as he watched his daughter take a loaf of garlic bread out of the oven.

Abby sighed as she set the bread down on a cutting board and took off her oven mitts, "Yesterday, when we were down at the creek. I asked if I could invite Jack over to watch movies tonight and you said 'fine, go ahead.'"

"I just don't remember saying that, Pumpkin," Dave said, frustrated. It's not that he had a problem with Jack coming over, he was going to let her off most of her restrictions soon anyway, he just couldn't remember giving her permission and it was driving him insane. Not only was trying to remember making him crazy, but it worried him a little since Alzheimer's had been known to pop up in his family every once in a while. "Did we talk about it during lunch? Or was it on the way to the creek?"

Abby avoided his eyes, "Um, I might have asked while you and mom were…discussing her return to work."

"Oh, so you snuck your request in while we were both distracted, is that it?" Dave asked, finally realizing what had happened.

"I might have," she mumbled, still looking at the ground.

"That was pretty sneaky, Abby." He was annoyed with her, but not really angry; God knows he'd done the same thing numerous times while growing up. Sometimes he'd gotten away with it and sometimes he'd gotten a taste of the wooden spoon for his troubles.

"Look dad, I know I'm still on restriction but I'm on restriction because I need to earn your trust back. Since Jack is coming over here, there's nothing you have to trust me about, I'll be under your watchful eye the entire time."

"I know," he said, "I'm just peeved at the tactics you used, and at the fact that I didn't realize what you were asking me before I gave you permission."

Abby gave a theatrical sigh, "Fine, do you want me to call him and tell him not to come?"

"No, he can still come over, I'm just not used to being outwitted by a seventeen year old girl is all," he said with a smile. "When's he getting here?"

Abby glanced at the clock on the microwave, "In about ten minutes; he's bringing pizza with him." She took a deep breath and continued, "I don't want you to get another nasty surprise so I'm going to be up front with you about this; Jack and I are back to being boyfriend and girlfriend." Abby waited for his reaction and was shocked when he just nodded.

"Okay Pumpkin, thanks for letting me know."

"You're…you're not going to flip out? You're not going to lecture me about sex and not going too far?" It's not that she _wanted _him to freak out; it's just that his non-reaction confused her.

Dave shook his head, "No, I'm fine with the two of you dating. I, as you so eloquently put it, 'flipped out' last time because I walked in on you and Jack kissing and I didn't have any forewarning that the two of you were anything other than friends. At least now I know about it."

At that moment, JJ entered the kitchen so Dave, who was still mad as hell at his wife, left the room. As she watched her husband's retreating back, JJ gave a sigh of her own.

"You and dad still aren't talking?" Abby asked, somewhat surprised; in the two and a half years that her parents had been together, she could remember them going to bed angry only about three times. While they had arguments that had been known to shake the roof rafters, they normally made up within a few hours. Abby knew the subject of their argument was serious, but she was still surprised that their anger had festered for as long as it had.

JJ shook her head, "Nope, your father still thinks I'm rushing back to work too quickly, even if it _is _only for a week and I'll be at headquarters the entire time." Seeing the uncomfortable look on her daughter's face, she apologized. "I'm sorry Abby, I know you've gotten stuck in the middle of our argument and I never meant for that to happen."

Abby waved away her mother's concern as she sliced the bread, "It's okay, it's not like it happens a lot. Besides, I'm on your side."

"Really?" JJ asked, surprised. With all that had happened, she had expected her daughter to be as protective as her father was being.

"Really, although I can see where dad's coming from. You have no idea how scary it was seeing you get shot or waiting for word from the doctors about whether you were dead or alive. It also doesn't help that dad is _normally _one of the most protective people on the planet, add life threatening injuries into the mix and he becomes downright caveman-esque," Abby told her.

"You have a point, but I can't ignore my job just because your father feels the need to be smothering in his protectiveness."

"I know," Abby nodded, "But you need to put yourself in his mindset for a minute. He nearly lost us because his ex-wife decided to go around the bend. We both know he isn't sleeping much at night and when he does, he has nightmares that rival mine, so he's already on edge. Your announcement helped push him closer to that edge is all. I think he'll eventually come around, but it will take time and reassurances."

JJ thought about what her daughter said and she was about to respond back when the doorbell rang.

Abby made her way to the front door and when she opened it, she found a smiling Jack Hotchner on the other side, and he was holding a very large pizza.

"Come on in," she said, holding the door open for him. Since neither of her parents were nearby, she gave him a kiss as he passed by.

"Hey Abs, where should I put this?" He asked, after he returned the kiss.

"On the coffee table," she said as she led him into the great room. He set the pizza down and then pulled her into his arms for a proper kiss. They pulled apart when they heard the clearing of a throat.

"You're lucky I'm not your father," JJ said amusedly. It was still a little weird to see her daughter and Jack kissing but JJ was happy that Abby had found happiness. With all that had happened in the past six weeks, JJ knew that Abby needed all of the cheeriness she could get.

"Sorry Aunt JJ," Jack said, turning beet red, "We were just…" JJ's eyebrows rose in amusement as her pseudo-nephew searched for an excuse.

"We were just about to go into the kitchen to get our drinks. C'mon Jack," Abby said pulling him into the other room. When they finally had their drinks, plates, silverware and garlic bread, they returned to the great room and found Dave sitting on one of the sofas instead of JJ.

"You know I die a little when you eat that stuff, don't you?" He said, point to the Pizza Hut box.

"I know, but its sooooo good!" Abby said, reaching for a slice. She took a giant bite and Dave winced in disgust.

"I could have made you some authentic pizza, and pasta for that matter, but no, you went for the mass market, shitty pizza."

Jack helped himself to a slice, "Yeah, but this way the only clean up is throwing a box away at the end of the meal."

"Trust me, authentic pizza it's worth the clean up," Dave muttered.

"Face it dad, your offspring prefers the gentrified version of Italian food. I know it's a huge disappointment to you, but try to get over it," she said with a grin as she finished her slice and reached for another one.

"Don't let your grandmother hear you say that, she'll kill both of us!" Dave said as he returned her grin. "So what are you kids watching tonight?"

He looked as though he was about to settle into the couch and Abby really wanted some time alone with Jack, so she decided to ditch their night of new releases in favor of some raunchy, low-brow comedy. In other words, the type of movie her father hated. "We're going to start out with _Dodgeball _and then I think we'll move on to _Dumb and Dumber._"

That was all Dave needed to hear and he got up from the sofa, "Well I'll leave you kids to it then. I'll be in the study if you need anything." He said that last part as more of a warning that someone would be close by in case they decided to get to engage in a make out session.

As soon as Dave was out of the room, Jack turned towards his girlfriend, "_Dodgeball_? I thought we were going to watch _Avatar_."

"Did you really want him hanging out with us all night? I said the first thing that came into my mind," she told him as she got up to put the comedy in the DVD player.

Many laughs and many slices of pizza later, they finished watching the first movie and were debating a second one. Instead of a movie, they finally decided to watch TV instead. They found an episode of _Futurama _playing on one of the stations and they kept it on in the background while they talked.

"So am I feeling tension here, or is it just me?" Jack asked as he put his arm around her.

Abby shook her head, "It's not just you, mom and dad are fighting."

"About what?"

Abby gave him the rundown of the argument and when she was done speaking, Jack gave a low whistle, "I can see why Dave is pissed."

Abby pulled away from him, "What is that supposed to mean? Is my mom supposed to put her career on hold just because dad feels the need to act like a Neanderthal?"

"No," Jack said testily, "It means I can see why he'd be worried about her, it's really soon after the shooting to be going back to work. Don't turn this into one of your feminist rants." Jack loved that Abby had her own ideas about things and that she felt the need to express her opinions, but there were times when it drove him nuts.

"Sorry," Abby said, "I'm kinda caught in the middle of everything and it's made me a little defensive."

"You? Defensive? No way!" Jack said sarcastically.

"You're lucky we're going out because if we were still just best friends, I would totally slug you right now," she said with a grin. "So tell me, what's been going on with everyone in the BAU? Now that I'm not seeing everyone on a daily basis, I feel like I'm out of the loop."

Jack scrunched his forehead up as he tried to recall any really good bits of gossip. "Dad and Emily are getting pretty hot and heavy."

"Really?" Abby said, "Do tell!"

Jack nodded, "Yeah, I keep walking in on them making out. It's kinda gross, actually. I mean, I know they are together and I'm not naïve enough to think that they're only sleeping when Emily stays overnight, but when I actually see them being affectionate with each other all over the apartment, it gets a little…gross."

"I hear you," Abby commiserated. "You should have been here right after mom and dad got married, I felt like I needed to announce my presence every time I walked into a room. They weren't so bad when they were dating, but after they were married all bets were off."

"Parents," Jack declared, "Don't they know that we don't want to think about them like that? Once you turn thirty, no one wants to see that!" Abby nodded her agreement and then Jack continued, "Speaking of gratuitous displays of affection, Derek and Penelope are thinking of moving in together."

"That's kind of soon, isn't it?" Abby said in surprise.

"Maybe for most normal couples, but those two have never been normal!"

"True," Abby agreed, "Good for them, I'm glad some good has come out of all of this. Derek and Penelope finally stopped dancing around their feelings for each other, and your dad and Emily finally got together. I'm happy for everyone."

"I'm happy that we got back together too," Jack said, "Speaking of which, have you decided about prom yet?"

"Of course I'll go with you, I can't wait!" She said.

Jack smiled, "Good, because I already got the tickets, rented my tux and arranged for a limo."

"Hopefully my dad will let me out of his sight by then," Abby sighed.

"How long are you grounded for?" He asked her and got a shrug in return. "You have to admit, it _was _pretty stupid to sneak out the way you did. You're lucky I wasn't here because you would have had one more person yelling at you."

"I know, and I _am _sorry for doing it, but you'd think with all that's happened since then, my parents could cut me a little slack. For all I know I could be grounded until I leave for college." She saw her boyfriend open his mouth and she cut off the question before it was asked, "Don't even ask about that, I still haven't decided where I want to go."

Since college was a touchy subject for both of them, Jack followed her directive and didn't ask any questions. Instead, he leaned over and kissed her. That kiss led to more and they didn't come up for air again until he had to leave.

Once Jack was gone, Abby went upstairs to her room, changed into her pajamas and crossed the hallway to her parent's bedroom. Knocking, she heard her mother invite her in.

"I just wanted to say goodnight," Abby said as she stepped into the room. "Will you tell dad goodnight for me."

"Sure," JJ said as she set her book down, "Where is he?"

"He's in the study," Abby said uneasily.

"Still can't go in there?" Her mom asked sympathetically, as she scooted over so Abby could join her on the bed. While she could at least poke her head in the room to ask her husband questions, Abby hadn't' been able to even go near the study since they'd returned home.

"No, it's just too…I don't know, it's too much," Abby told her as she sat next to her on the bed.

"I understand, honey," JJ said as she flipped the TV on. She turned the channel until she found an episode of _Friends. _"Care to watch this with me?"

"Sure," Abby said as she snuggled into the blankets on her dad's side of the bed. Within minutes, they both fell asleep and that's how Dave found them when he came to bed two hours later.

As he stared at their sleeping forms, he was once again reminded of how close he came to losing everything. Not wanting to wake them, he stretched out on the sofa and stared at the ceiling until sleep finally overtook him a few hours later.

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**_A/N 2: And now for some shameful self-promoting...I've been nominated for the _****Profiler's Choice Criminal Minds Awards **in numerous categories, including best overall author (which I REALLY wasn't expecting), best OC driven story and a bunch of other ones. Please check out the final ballot at http:/ / forum. fanfiction .net /topic/74868/33067839/1/ (remove the spaces). Be sure to vote before November 30, 2010! There's only 11 days left to vote!


	76. Chapter 76

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 76

**~Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I don't have the time right now to thank each of you personally, but reviews really help to keep me motivated!**

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"I'm allowing this because you've built up some goodwill and trust with me over the past few weeks, and I'm trusting you to follow my instructions," It was the following morning and Dave was dangling his daughter's car keys in front of her. Abby, who was looking forward to getting a taste of total freedom, impatiently nodded her agreement.

"I'm serious Pumpkin; there and back and nowhere else. Also, I expect you back here by two o'clock. If your grandmother wants to keep you later, you'll need to call and ask." Still wondering if he was making the right decision in letting her take her car, Dave thought back to the phone call he'd received from his mother the previous day…

He'd been in the deserted study, working on the first draft of his overdue manuscript, when his cell phone rang. Glancing at the caller ID, he smiled and answered. "Hi, ma."

"Hello son, how are you?" Marie asked, deciding to be nice to her son since she wanted something from him.

"I'm good, how are you?" He asked absently, glancing at his computer screen.

"I'm fine Davey. I'm calling because I want to see my granddaughter at brunch tomorrow," she told him.

Sighing, Dave said, "I don't know ma, right now is not a good time. Jen and I are fighting and I don't know if we'll be up to spending that much time together in an enclosed space." He thought about being in a car with her for that long and shuddered.

Her ears perking up at the mention of strife between her son and daughter-in-law, Marie made a mental note to ask her granddaughter about it the next day. "Davey, as much as I love you son, I wasn't calling to invite you, I want to have a meal alone with Abby so we can get caught up. The only reason I'm calling you is because I know she's still grounded and I want you to let her off of it so she can go out with me."

Dave thought about it for a moment and then nodded, "Okay ma, it's been three weeks since the Great Jail Break of '10; I guess I can let her have some leeway. Where are you going to take her?"

"We both like the Logan Tavern near my house, so I was thinking we would go there."

"Won't that be a pain in the as-neck for you ma?" Dave asked, catching his expletive before his mother could scold him. "You'll have to come all the way out here to pick her up, go back to your place, come back here to drop her off and then go back home."

"It will be, and that brings me to the second part of the favor," his mother told him. "It would be _much _easier for all involved if you would let Abby use her car to come meet me tomorrow."

"No," he said firmly, "Absolutely not."

"Davey-" Marie began, but Dave cut her off. "No way ma, I'm already granting her a pardon by letting her go in the first place, I'm not going to let her completely off the hook."

"I want to have a nice meal with my granddaughter, David, and I don't want to spend the entire day travelling in order to do so. You said yourself that you know she wouldn't have done what she did under normal circumstances and you also said she's been behaving wonderfully. You need to cut her some slack so she can actually prove to you that you can trust her!"

Dave thought about what his mother had just said and finally let out a loud breath through pursed lips, "Fine, I'll let her have her car so she can go there and back, but that's it! No trips to the mall, no movies, nothing else!"

"That's fine, son," Marie said, ecstatic that she would be seeing Abby the following day. "I will make sure she's home by three o'clock at the latest."

"Two o'clock ma, I want her home by two."

"All right Davey, you're her father after all," Marie said in a placating tone.

"I _promise_ I'll be home by two, okay?" Abby's voice pulled him from his reverie and he handed her the keys.

"This is big, Abby," he told her, "If we get through this outing okay, I'll _consider _making your car a permanent fixture in your life."

"Thanks dad," she said giving him a peck on the cheek. She then tore out of the house before he could lecture her anymore.

As she slid behind the wheel of her car, it felt a bit strange to Abby; this was the first time since before the shooting that she would be travelling totally alone and it was a bit daunting. She almost panicked and went back into the house, but she remembered some of what she'd worked on with Dr. Kendall in therapy and she took a deep breath and started the motor.

It only took her about five minutes on the open road to get over her fear and embrace her regained freedom. As she cruised down the highway with her stereo blaring and the her windows down, she remembered what life used to be like before scary things like guns and crazy people had entered it and she smiled; she had faith that eventually it would be that way again.

Thirty minutes later, she pulled up to the restaurant and miraculously found parking in the attached lot. She walked the short distance to the front door, entered and spotted her grandmother sitting in a booth against one of the windows.

"Nonna!" She exclaimed as she approached the table.

"Little One!" Her grandmother said enthusiastically as she got up from the table to hug her. They both embraced for a moment and then sat down on opposite sides of the booth. For as busy as the place was, the service was surprisingly fast and within five minutes they had their orders placed and they could focus on chatting about their lives.

"So how are things going for you, Little One?" Marie asked, as she sipped on her mimosa.

"Better," Abby told her. "I still have nightmares but they're not as bad anymore, and I'm still on restriction with mom and dad, but dad's kind of wavering on that. I'm hoping I'll be sprung by the time my birthday rolls around."

"What about everything else? How are you and Jack doing?" Marie was genuinely interested in her granddaughter's relationship with Jack since she'd known before they had that they would make a great couple and she'd felt the vibe between the two.

"Jack's…great, everything is going really well with him," she said with a dreamy look on her face. "That's part of the reason I like being back at school, I get to see him every day."

Grinning at the young love, Marie asked, "And what about school? Are you looking forward to graduation? Are you excited to start college in the fall?" As soon as she got the words out, Marie knew she'd said something wrong, as her granddaughter's smile had fallen and a nervous look came upon her.

"Um yeah, I can't wait until graduation," she said unconvincingly. Abby squirmed in her seat as her grandmother nailed her with a look that was eerily similar to the look her father gave her when he wanted information from her.

"What's wrong? Why don't you want to graduate?"

Abby sighed, she knew she needed an impartial adult's opinion on her college dilemma, and while Nonna wasn't exactly unbiased, she knew the woman would at least hear her out before telling her what she thought. "Okay Nonna, I'm about to tell you something but you _can't_ tell mom and dad about it. I'll tell them eventually but I need some time to think before I do it."

"All right Abby," Marie said, "I'll keep whatever it is to myself."

Taking a deep breath, Abby spoke rapidly, explaining her dilemma in one long sentence, "I applied to the University of California at Berkeley and I did it without telling mom and dad and I didn't think I'd get in, but I did and now I don't know where I want to go since I really like DC and part of me wants to be near everyone, but part of me is ready for a change and I think Berkeley could do that and mom and dad are going to kill me and I don't know what to do!" Abby was totally out of breath by the end of her tirade.

While her granddaughter caught her breath, Marie tried to process the many words that had been spoken at such a rapid speed. Suddenly it all came together and the light went on in her head, "You want to go to school in California?" She asked, shocked.

Abby shook her head, "Part of me does, but part of me wants to stay here where I know everyone. I'm so confused!" She wailed.

Marie, still trying to process everything, thought for a minute. "It's awfully far away Abby, are you sure you're not doing this to get away from everything that has happened over the past six weeks?"

The teen shook her head, "I have to admit, getting away from all of the reminders _does_ sound nice at times, but talking with Dr. Kendall has made me realize that running away won't solve everything. No, I was thinking about it before everything happened; I applied back in January." Abby paused and looked at the table, "I guess I applied so I could try something new. Everyone here knows me and I'm afraid if I stay and go to Georgetown, it'll be like an extension of high school; everyone will continue to see me as a brainy little kid and I won't get a chance to try being someone else."

As much as she didn't want her granddaughter moving three thousand miles away, Marie understood her need to experience new things. Heck, that's why she came to America! "I'll miss you if you go to Berkeley, Little One, but you have to do what's right for you and if that means moving three thousand miles away, then that's what you have to do."

"Really? You're not mad at me?" Abby practically whispered.

Marie shook her head, "Of course not, how could I be mad at you for doing something I did when I was younger? But you have to decide fairly quickly, or at least tell your parents about your dilemma since you're going to have to turn your paperwork in pretty soon."

Abby nodded, "I know, but you won't tell them beforehand, right?" She was grateful that her grandmother understood her quandary about college.

"No, nor will I ask you about it every time I talk to you. You need to make this decision on your own and Lord knows you don't need me or anyone else interfering with that. If you want to talk to me about it or if you have questions for me, please ask, but I won't hound you about this," Marie told her.

"Thanks Nonna," Abby said with tears in her eyes; it was a relief to have her grandmother in on her secret.

Seeing her granddaughter's relief, Marie decided to change the subject before she got stressed out again. "So tell me, why are your parents fighting?"

xxxxxxxxxx

While Abby was discussing her future with her grandmother, Dave and JJ were entrenched in their cold war at the cabin. Sick of the tension between them and knowing it wasn't good for their daughter, Dave decided to make the first peace offering. Knowing his wife was reading out on the backyard deck, he whipped up some omelets, hash browns and fruit salad and brought a plate out to her. He wordlessly set it down in front of her before going back in for his own plate. They began to eat in silence, the unspoken anger hanging over them.

"We need to talk, Jen," Dave said, finally breaking the oppressive silence.

"Why, so you can treat me like a child?" She asked belligerently.

Dave wisely bit his tongue and refrained from telling her that she was acting very much like their teenage daughter at the moment. "_No_, we need to talk so we can settle this before tomorrow."

"Look Dave, if you're going to tell me that I can't go back to work tomorrow, you can save your breath, I _am _going."

He tried to keep his annoyance out of his voice as he responded back to her. "I wasn't going to tell you that, I was going to apologize for the other day."

"Really?" JJ asked, surprised. She could count on one hand the number of times her husband had apologized for an argument.

"Yes, really," he said with a slight smile. "While I don't totally think I was in the wrong, I could have conveyed my concerns to you in a better way."

"You could have," JJ agreed.

Feeling his annoyance at his wife ratchet up another notch, Dave pushed it a little. "You can't blame me for being scared, Jen. You have no idea how helpless I felt when you were shot. You were standing three feet away from me and I couldn't do anything! You can't fathom what it felt like waiting for the doctors to tell me whether you would live or die and you can't imagine the abject horror I felt as I watched them perform CPR on you in the ICU. The waiting and not knowing nearly killed _me_, honey and I never want to go through that again!"

His wife softened towards him; she knew it had been bad for both him and Abby and he was right, she would never know exactly how terrifying it had been. She took his hand and lightly caressed it as she spoke, "I know you went through a lot those days, but I can't let my injury hold me back from my work." Seeing him open his mouth to disagree, JJ pressed on. "I know you think it's too early, but I know my body and I'm telling you I can do this. I promise I won't overdo it, I don't want to backslide in my recovery and I never want to have to spend any significant amount of time in the hospital again."

Dave sighed, "If you're bound and determined to do this, there are a few conditions to my agreeing to it."

"And those are?" JJ asked, both irritated and amused at the same time.

"One," Dave started, "I'm going with you. You know they're going to want to interview me, and I can work on my book in my office while you're out there doing your thing."

"That's an acceptable condition," JJ said agreeably.

"Two, you'll eat lunch with me every day while you're at the BAU. I know you and when you get busy, you tend to skip meals. I want to make sure you're both eating and taking a break every now and then."

"Fine," she nodded.

"Three, if at _any_ point I think you're overdoing it, I pull you out and you leave with no complaints and no arguments." He didn't think he'd actually get this one, but he knew he had to try. He wasn't surprised to see her shaking her head.

"Sorry Dave, but that's not going to happen, but I have a counter offer," she told him.

"Do tell," Dave said, somewhat amused by their negotiations.

"If at any time you think I'm overdoing it, you can voice your opinions to me and if you think I'm not taking your concerns seriously, we'll both go to Hotch's office and get his opinion on the matter, but ultimately the decision to leave resides with me," she told him. "And you will _not _voice your concerns, or act like a caveman, in front of the camera crews."

He didn't like it, but Dave knew that was the best he'd get on the topic. "Fine," he said tightly. "Four-"

"There are more?" JJ asked surprised; she thought he would have ended with the biggest one.

Dave nodded, "Four, you leave by four-thirty every afternoon. We'll have Abby take the Metro to the BAU and we'll all leave together from there."

JJ thought about it for a minute and nodded her agreement. "Good," Dave said. "Five, you come with me to our bedroom and let me apologize to you properly." He wore a gentle smile as he said this and it took a minute for the meaning to dawn on JJ.

"I don't know Dave," she said hesitantly.

"It's been since before the shooting, honey."

She nodded, "I know, I just…I have scars Dave, big, ugly scars. What if they ruin the mood?"

"Those scars are what prove you're alive Jen, those scars are a testament to just how strong you are. Trust me, I couldn't be any more attracted to you than I am right now if I tried!"

"What about Abby? She could be home any minute."

He shook his head, "I told her to be home by two o'clock. After being cooped up with us for this long, do you really think she's going to return early? I would guess she'll be home at around one fifty-nine. Come on Jen, let's make up like we used to."

JJ thought for another minute and nodded. She let herself be scooped into her husband's arms and carried to the bedroom where they spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon re-discovering their passion for each other.


	77. Chapter 77

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 77

**~This chapter is for kdzl who asked for a for a flashback that showed how JJ's relationships have evolved to what she currently has with Dave. She also for it to involve Grandma Abby (JJ's mother). Chapter 78 will finish the flashback and it's already written, it just needs a quick edit. I will post it within a few hours (otherwise kdzl will probably kill me if I make her wait another day for it) after I trek to the grocery store. That should be fun, grocery shopping the day before Thanksgiving...**

**~If anyone else has anything they want to see in this story, let me know via PM or review and I will try my best to incorporate it!**

**

* * *

**Later that afternoon, Abby pulled up in front of the cabin and killed her car engine. She jumped out and ran up to her mother, who was sitting on the porch swing. "I'm not late!" She exclaimed breathlessly as she sat down next to her mother.

JJ glanced at her watch, "Nope, you made it with four minutes to spare; thanks for that, your father now owes me fifty dollars."

"What are you talking about?" Abby said, confused.

Her mother smiled, "Your dad thought you'd roll up at one fifty-nine, but I was confident you wouldn't cut it that close. I knew you'd give it at least two or three minutes."

"Well God, I'm glad you both have so much faith in my ability to arrive home before curfew!" Abby said haughtily, but she wasn't really mad, she'd enjoyed her few hours of independence too much to be anything other than mildly peeved. She sat back in the porch swing bench and joined her mother in a contemplative silence for a few minutes before her words finally dawned on her. "You and dad are talking? Did you make up?"

JJ nodded, "We made up."

Seeing the dreamy smile on her mom's face, Abby rolled her eyes and held back a groan; thanks to her mother's expression, and the fact that she heard the shower running, she now knew _how _her parents had made up. She shook that disturbing thought from her mind and asked, "So who won? Are you going to the BAU tomorrow?"

"We both won; I'm going to work tihis week, but I had to agree to some conditions your father laid out. It was an artful negotiation."

Abby snorted, "Yeah, I'm sure it was. I'm sure it was a quiet negotiation too."

"It wasn't that bad," JJ said defensively. "Your father and I aren't always loud in our disagreements!"

As she snorted again she saw that her mother was going from amused to annoyed, so she exercised her constitutional right and remained silent for a few minutes. As she sat next to her mother, she thought back to her childhood. "You've come along way, mom," she finally told her.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, it's just nice that you actually stay and fight with dad now, you don't just run away anymore."

"Again," JJ asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice, "What do you mean."

Abby wished she'd kept her mouth shut, "It always seemed that when I was growing up, you just kind of ran from things when they sprung up in your relationships, you didn't try and work them out. I don't know, maybe I'm remembering it wrong." She didn't mean to get her mother riled up and she hoped she hadn't.

JJ's first reaction was to tell her daughter that she was wrong, that she _had _tried to work on her previous relationships, but she knew that wasn't true, she knew Abby was right. Sighing, JJ said, "You're right, I never really did work on my past relationships and if something like this had come up in one of them, I probably would have ended it with the guy."

"Are there any relationships you regret ending because of something stupid?"

JJ thought for a minute, "Yeah, remember Jeffrey?"

Abby nodded, "He was really nice and he treated both of us well. I always wondered what happened between the two of you."

"Really?" JJ asked, "Because you didn't seem too upset when I told you we had broken up."

"I'd had a bad day that day too, so I didn't really think about it until afterwards. Besides, I'd heard Grandma Abby tear into you about it, so I knew that if I'd said anything to you about it, I would just get into trouble."

Almost as if they shared a mind, the two of them thought back to that day.

xxxxxxxxxx

Abby was silent on the bus ride that took her from the county school to her grandparent's rambling country farmhouse. At nine years of age, she wasn't quite sure why they lived on a farm, since neither of them were farmers, but when she'd asked her mother about it once she'd told her that Grandma Abby had grown up on a farm and couldn't bring herself to live in a city, even one as small as the one they lived in.

As she stepped off of the bus, the normal spring in her step conspicuously missing, she looked around and saw that her grandfather's car was not in the long driveway that led up to the house. Breathing a sigh of relief, she started the journey to the front porch, stopping to get the mail on the way. Grandfather Jareau didn't work from his home office too often, but when he did, it was a lot less fun in the house. Abby was afraid of her grandfather, not afraid that he would hit her, although she wondered if that would happen someday, but she was afraid of his words. He was always mean to her grandma and her mom and it made her sad to see them get sad or mad at his words. She wished that Grandma Abby lived alone so her and her mom could live with her forever and not have to worry about her mean old grandfather.

The lack of her grandfather's presence wasn't enough to lift Abby's spirits though and as she trudged into the house through the kitchen door, her grandmother immediately noticed her mood. "What's wrong honey?" She asked as her granddaughter hung her light spring jacket up on the hook near the door.

"Nothin'," Abby replied, not meeting her grandma's eyes. She sat down at the kitchen table and picked at the snack that had been set out for her.

The elder Abby knew something was wrong with her normally sunny granddaughter and she wasn't going to just let it go. "Well _something_ must be wrong, usually you have a smile for me and then you eat all of your peanut butter cookies one bite." Seeing that her little joke failed to get a reaction from her granddaughter, the elder Abby's brows furrowed.

"Nothing's wrong grandma," Abby said, nearly in tears, "I just don't feel like smiling!" Knowing she had come dangerously close to yelling at Grandma Abby, which was the ultimate no-no, the younger Abby took a deep breath and tried to keep from crying.

"Abby-" her grandmother started, but the girl shook her head, "I don't feel like talking right now, can I just go upstairs?" The elder Abby had created a playroom/study area/bedroom for her only her only granddaughter in one of the many empty bedrooms on the second floor.

"All right sweetheart, go on upstairs and get started on your homework. I'm making homemade macaroni and cheese tonight, so when you're done, you can come down and help me, okay?"

"'Kay," she said unenthusiastically as she went up the steps. Two hours passed before she reappeared and during that time, the elder Abby's worry had gone up a couple of notches. She wasn't quite sure what was wrong with her granddaughter, but she knew she had to try and pry it out of her.

Just as the elder Abby was putting the finishing touches on the meal, she heard small footsteps on the staircase and she took a deep breath. She was hopeful that her granddaughter was in a better mood, but as soon as she saw her face, she knew that wasn't the case. It wasn't that Abby was in a surly mood, she just looked…upset. Upset and sad and the elder Abby knew she needed to talk about it.

"I thought you were going to come down and help me make dinner," Grandma Abby said, as she pulled the homemade mac & cheese out of the oven.

"Sorry," the younger Abby mumbled, getting the silverware from the drawer. "Isn't mom eating with us?" Normally when her mother came to pick her up, she would get there early enough to eat supper with them.

Her grandmother shook her head, "No, she's going out with Jeffrey tonight."

"Oh," Abby said as she climbed into her seat. She liked Jeffrey and she hoped the three of them would go out on Saturday. She watched as her grandma put a plate full of food in front of her, helped herself and then sat down across from her. There was silence for a few minutes as the elder Abby ate her dinner and the younger Abby just picked at hers. Finally, the elder Abby set her fork down and stared at her granddaughter.

"What happened at school today, Abby?" She asked in a commanding tone. Tears sprung to her granddaughter's eyes and she just shook her head. "Come on honey, _something _happened and I want to help you, but I can't unless you tell me about it."

The junior Abby pondered this for a moment and decided talk, "Remember the picture I had to bring in for show and tell? The one of our family?" She asked in a tiny voice that was desperately trying to hold back tears.

Grandma Abby nodded, she'd given her one of the few pictures that had both she and her husband, along with Jennifer and Abby in it. It was one of the few times she'd managed to work the timer on the camera correctly.

"Well Mrs. Johnson had us write a story about that picture, it was supposed to be a story about our family, so I wrote about you and mom and grandfather and me. It was a good story!" Abby said haughtily. "After we were done with our story, we had to read it to a partner and my partner was Sherri and she told me it was weird that I didn't have a daddy. I told her I had you and mom and I didn't need a daddy, but she kept telling people how weird it was that I don't have one!"

"It's not weird that you don't have a father, Abby, lots of kids don't have daddies." Inside, the elder Abby's stomach was knotting up; she had always wondered how long it would take for her granddaughter to start inquiring about her father.

"That's what I told her! But then Mrs. Johnson came up to us and _she _thought it was weird that I don't have a daddy! She said most kids have a mommy and a daddy and she said it was strange that I only had a mommy."

Grandma Abby took the younger Abby's hand and pulled her into a hug. The little girl was crying by this time and it was breaking her heart and hugging her granddaughter kept her from plotting the school teacher's demise. How dare she make her granddaughter feel bad about not having a father! Didn't she realize that family dynamics had changed over the past couple of decades? Many kids now only had one parent and they shouldn't be made to feel ashamed about it! The elder Abby knew that she would be front and center at the next PTA and school board meetings. This teacher was going to rue the day she made young Abigail Jareau feel ashamed about her family.

After a few minutes, the younger Abby's tears finally subsided and the older Abby began speaking again "Abby, honey, you're not weird for having just a mommy, lots of kids don't have a mommy and a daddy. Look at Nigel; he's one of your best friends and he has two mommies, and Laura doesn't have a daddy either."

"Yeah, but Laura's daddy died when she was little," the young girl said, wiping her face with her sleeve. "Grandma? Why don't _I_ have a daddy?"

* * *

**_There are only a few more days left to vote for the Profiler's Choice Awards! Please check out the final ballot at http:/ / forum. fanfiction .net /topic/74868/33067839/1/ (remove the spaces). Be sure to vote before November 30, 2010!_**


	78. Chapter 78

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 78

**~As promised, here's the second part of the flashback. This will probably be it until Saturday or Sunday as I'm spending most of the holiday weekend with various friends and family members. **

**~To all of the American readers out there, Happy Thanksgiving! To everyone else...happy Thursday?**

* * *

There it was, the question she'd been dreading since her daughter announced her pregnancy and her plans to keep Abby's father out of her life. It was the one question that the elder Abby had no idea how to answer, so she reluctantly passed the buck to her daughter. "I don't know Abby, that's a question only your mom can answer. I can tell you that your mom, grandfather and I all love you very much, though."

The younger Abby looked shocked that there was a question her beloved grandmother couldn't answer. Trying to change the subject, her grandmother released her from her grasp and they chatted about other things that happened during the school day. Finally, as they both finished eating, Grandma Abby said, "Your mom is going to be late tonight, why don't you go upstairs and take your bath and then when she gets here, she'll be able to take a clean daughter home with her." She tickled her granddaughter's ribs at the end and it was a giggling Abby who went running up the steps.

The elder Abby was surprised to hear the front door open twenty minutes later. She knew her daughter was on a date and she wasn't expecting her husband home any time soon. As soon as her daughter stepped into the kitchen, she knew the date had gone poorly. Jennifer's face was clenched and her eyes were red-rimmed, as though she'd been crying,

"I wasn't expecting you so early," The elder Abby said, as she turned away from the dishes she had been washing at the sink. "Bad night?" She watched as her daughter threw her purse on the table and flopped down into one of chairs next to it.

"Jeff and I broke up," was all she said.

"Oh Jen, I'm so sorry! What happened?" Abby sat down next to her daughter and offered her some peanut butter cookies. She'd fervently hoped that this was her daughter's dream man. Jeff was one of the few boyfriends that her daughter had had who had actually liked Abby…in fact, he not only liked her but he was slowly becoming a father figure to the girl. Not only that, the elder Abby could tell that the man had genuinely loved her daughter and she'd prayed that they would get married someday.

JJ teared up, "While we were eating, he started talking about how he would like to have a bunch of kids someday. We'd never really talked about kids before, other than Abby, and I never told him I couldn't have any more children. Anyway, since we both know that I can't have any more children, I thought I should break it off with him now, before things went any farther."

Abby's expression changed from sympathy to frustration, "Did you tell him you couldn't have any more children? Did you bother to let him decide whether he wanted to stay in the relationship if the two of you couldn't have any more children?"

"No, I didn't want to deal with the explanations and I didn't want to hear him scramble for excuses to end things with me, so I ended the relationship first."

"Good heavens Jen!" Her mother exclaimed, "You're not sixteen years old anymore, you can't just end things on your terms! You have to stay and work at _any_ serious relationship! Don't you think you're a bit old to go running away from things just because they get a little difficult?"

"Don't start with me mom, I've had a bad day and tonight hasn't helped anything. Besides, you're hardly one to talk; you've stayed in a miserable relationship with dad your entire adult life. At least I've had the courage to break things off with guys so I can be happy." JJ was nearly shouting at this point and thirty years old or not, she could tell by the look on her mother's face that she had gone too far.

"Jennifer Elizabeth Jareau, I don't know who you think you're talking to," Abby started, her voice steely, "But I am your mother and I deserve your respect. You will _not_ talk to me like that and you most certainly will _not_ raise your voice to me. As for my 'miserable relationship' with your father, you don't know the first thing about it! Don't you _dare_ sit there and judge me for staying with your father! There are factors in our relationship that you don't know the first thing about and you never will!" The older woman took a breath to get her anger under control; at the moment she wanted nothing more than to shake her daughter out of frustration. "As for your relationship with Jeff, you need to grow up! You need to realize that when you date someone and then break up with them, it affects not only you, but your daughter as well. If you would ever bother to work on any of your relationships, you'd know that there are good times and bad times and you need to work through the bad times to get to the good times!"

What the two women didn't know was that the younger Abby was sitting at the top of the steps listening to their every word. As soon as she heard the raised voices though, she crept back to her room to wait for her mom. She hated it when her mother and grandmother fought and she didn't want to hear any ugly words between them.

JJ, upon hearing her mother's words swallowed hard and nodded, "Sorry mom, I shouldn't have yelled and I shouldn't have talked about your relationship with dad; you just don't understand how hard things are for me right now."

The elder Abby sighed, "I'm afraid they're about to get more difficult for you."

"What do you mean?"

"Your daughter had a rough day at school. Apparently she wrote a story about her family and some of the students, and the teacher, thought it was strange that she didn't have a father. Not only that, but they thought it was really weird that she didn't know who her father was or where he is."

JJ groaned, this was the absolute _last _thing she needed at the moment. She always knew Abby would ask questions about her dad, but she'd hoped to put that day off for a few more years. "Was she upset?"

Abby nodded, "She was, but I calmed her down. She asked me why she doesn't have a father, Jennifer, and I told her she needed to ask you that question."

JJ looked defeated, "Okay mom, thanks for telling me."

"What are you going to tell her? Are you going to tell her about her father? Are you going to tell _me_ about her father?" The identity of Abby's father was one of the only things JJ had ever kept from her mother and there were times it drove the elder Abby nearly insane.

"We're going to talk about the different types of families and how just because she doesn't have a dad, it doesn't mean our family is strange, it's just…different." Seeing her mother's expectant look, JJ said "I'm not going to tell her, or you, about her father. It's in the past mom, just drop it."

Abby felt her ire towards her daughter jump up a couple of notches, "I think you're making a big mistake, Jennifer; Abby deserves to know about her father and her father deserves to know about her! From the little bit you've told me, her father never treated you badly, he never hit you, in fact you once told me that he made you the happiest you've ever been, so what's the problem?"

"I'm not talking about this with you, mom, I've made my decision and I'm sticking with it! He left me and I'm not going to have him come back just because of Abby. I've seen firsthand what happens when parents stay together for the sake of the children and I'm not going to put her through that. She doesn't need a father, especially if he acts the way mine does." Thomas Jareau had never been an affectionate father and JJ always wondered why he'd bothered getting married in the first place.

If only her mother knew how many times she'd nearly contacted David to tell him about Abby. She'd thought of picking up the phone, she'd thought of contacting him via the FBI, hell, she'd thought of showing up at one of his book signings with Abby in tow, but she hadn't followed through on any of her urges and she knew why. It wasn't just that she didn't want David returning because of Abby, she was also terrified that he would break her heart again. She was terrified that he would deny Abby was his, she was terrified that he would accuse her of sleeping around on him, and if he did that, all of the sweet memories she had of them together would be ruined and she couldn't do that to herself or to Abby. It was better for everyone involved if David's identity remained a secret.

"Well then Jennifer, I guess we have nothing left to say about this particular subject," her mother said stiffly. "Did you eat before you broke Jeff's heart?"

Swallowing her own annoyance at her mother, JJ shook her head, "No, I ended things after we ate our appetizers."

"Well then, let me fix you some mac & cheese," Abby said, grabbing a plate from the cabinet. After a few minutes of tense silence, both JJ and her mother were able to move on to more pleasant topics and by the time JJ had finished eating, things were less tense between them.

After her late dinner, JJ went upstairs to collect her daughter and found her asleep in her makeshift bedroom. The elder Abby had followed her daughter and she took in the sight of her sleeping granddaughter. "Just leave her here for the night, Jen. I'll make sure she gets to school tomorrow." They had arranged it so the school bus picked the younger Abby up at the apartment where she and her mother lived in town and it dropped her off at her grandmother's house.

"Okay mom, thanks," JJ said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. As she left her childhood home, JJ blew out a sigh of relief at having dodged that particular bullet. She knew she would have to talk to her daughter about her father someday, but she hoped that day would be far in the future.

xxxxxxxxxx

"So you broke up with him because you couldn't have any more children, but you never told him why?" Abby asked, somewhat confused.

"That was part of it, but the real reason was that it was getting too serious between us."

"I still don't get it," Abby told her.

JJ smiled, "I loved your father from the moment I first laid eyes upon him in the Georgetown University bookstore and I never completely fell out of love with him, even after he left me when I was younger. I knew that if Jeffrey and I continued, we would most likely get married someday, more children or not, and I knew that while I loved him, I would always compare him to your father and he never would have been able to measure up to him. I broke up with him because a small part of me knew that I belonged with Dave and if I couldn't be with him, I didn't want to be with anyone."

"Oh," Abby said softly, with a smile. "It's a good thing the two of you ended up together then, otherwise you would have been destined to be an old maid." Both of them laughed at that image, and their laughter drew Dave onto the porch.

"What's so funny?" He asked as he leaned against the porch railing in front of them.

"We're just reminiscing," Abby told him.

"You owe me fifty bucks!" JJ crowed.

"Shit! What time did she get home?" Dave asked as he reached for his wallet.

"One fifty-six. And now you owe the swear jar a dollar," JJ informed him.

"I thought the swear jar was suspended?" Abby asked, recalling her earlier words to see if she owed any money. Thankfully, she was in the clear.

"I thought so too!" Dave exclaimed, reaching back into his wallet for a dollar bill.

"It was suspended while I was in the hospital and while we were being protected from people trying to kill us, but since that's all past us, the swear jar is now active again," JJ decreed.

"Great," Abby mumbled as she got up. "I'm going to go workout in the gym if anyone cares to join me."

"I'll be there in a little while Pumpkin," Dave said as he took her place on the porch swing; He knew he'd fallen out of shape during their captivity at the cabin and he intended to do something about it…right after he cuddled with his wife.

As their daughter jogged down the path to the family gym, JJ turned to her husband and stared at him for a minute. Finally, she smiled, gave him a light kiss and snuggled into his side.

"What was that for?" He asked happily.

JJ continued to smile as she answered his question. "I'm just glad that I finally ended up with you."

* * *

**_There are only a few more days left to vote for the Profiler's Choice Awards! Please check out the final ballot at http:/ / forum. fanfiction .net /topic/74868/33067839/1/ (remove the spaces). Be sure to vote before November 30, 2010!_**


	79. Chapter 79

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 79

~**_There is only ONE DAY left to vote for the Profiler's Choice Awards! Please check out the final ballot at http:/ / forum. fanfiction .net /topic/74868/33067839/1/ (remove the spaces). Be sure to vote before November 30, 2010!_**

* * *

David Rossi was having a bad day and God help the next person who even looked at him wrong, because he was looking for someone to take some of his anger out on and he knew that the next person who set him off would rue the day they'd heard his name.

It was surprising he was having such a horrible day. For the past three days, both he and his wife had been working at the BAU headquarters and it had been great, almost like old times. He'd been careful to keep an eye on her and other than one…minor disagreement about some exhaustion on her part, there hadn't been any strife between them, which everyone, including the interns and the section chief, considered a minor miracle. Not only had there not been any big disagreements between the two of them, Dave had actually been in a good mood for the entire week which was something that hadn't been seen since the first Bush presidency was in its infancy. That all changed by Thursday.

If he went back and analyzed the events of the day, Dave knew that most of it could be attributed to lack of sleep on his part. Every night while his wife slept soundly, he stared at the ceiling, afraid to sleep for fear of the vivid nightmares that had been plaguing him. While his daughter's nightmares seemed to be getting better, although she still woke up screaming at least three nights per week, his were getting worse and he didn't know what to do about them. Not only were his nightmares getting worse, he had a general fear of falling asleep since it was while he was asleep that Suzette and Paul had managed to get the drop on them. Having been reduced to a few hours of rest per night left Dave in a horrible mood by Thursday, and the events of the day didn't do anything to soothe him.

The first event occurred before he had even arrived at the BAU. Since she was still grounded from her car, Abby had been riding into the BAU headquarters with him and JJ and then she took the Metro into the city to school. While it was nice spending time with her both in the morning and in the afternoon, that morning she turned on one of her Top 40 radio stations on the satellite radio and from the moment the first song played, the music began to drive him insane. Rather than telling her that, he sat in silence, stewing over the horrific music that was playing loudly in the car. Finally, as both Abby and JJ were singing loudly along with a particularly annoying song, he lost control of his temper and snapped the radio off.

"Do you mind?" He practically snarled, "I don't really need these sounds running through my head all day!" He turned the radio back on and changed the station to Fox News. As he refocused on his driving, he glanced in the rear view mirror and saw a hurt expression on Abby's face. Sighing, he looked over at his wife and saw the same look going across her features. Feeling like an ass, Dave had been too perturbed to apologize and instead the family sat in silence as they listened to the conservative pundits review the headlines of the day.

Once at work, he gave his wife a kiss, which she returned stiffly, and made his way to his office. Once there, he found a handwritten note from his boss on his desk informing him that he was scheduled for a psych eval at eight-thirty that morning. According to the scribbled note, the psych eval was a mandatory part of his returning to work at the Bureau, even as a consultant and Aaron reassured him that it was just a formality. Nearly growling in frustration, Dave balled up the note and threw it in the circular filing cabinet, otherwise known as the trash can. While he understood the need for a psych eval, and he wasn't too worried about it since he'd been the one to come up with most of the questions for the eval, it bugged him that he had to take time out of his day to sit through the farce. Even as he left for it, he chuckled inwardly that Hotch had left him a handwritten note instead of an email, knowing that Dave wouldn't even turn on his computer until at least ten o'clock.

After the evaluation, which took longer than he thought it would, Dave was walking back to his office when his boss stopped him. "Did you get my note?" He called out from his office.

Dave nodded, "I'm on my way back from it now," he told him as he entered the room. He sat down in one of the chairs facing Hotch's desk and took a sip of the steaming coffee he'd gotten on his way back up to the BAU.

"How'd it go?"

Dave shrugged, "Same old psychobabble bullshit," he said. "It was a waste of time."

"I know," Hotch agreed, "But it's mandatory for someone who'd been through what you've been through in the past six weeks. I should get the findings of the psych eval by this afternoon and I'll have you cleared for a full return by the time I leave tonight."

"Thanks Hotch."

"No problem, but seriously, how are you doing?" Hotch couldn't imagine keeping his sanity if he'd been through what his best friend had been. Just thinking about someone threatening Jack made him sick to his stomach and he knew Dave had witnessed much more than that.

"Honestly? Between you and me?" Dave asked and Hotch nodded, "I don't know man, I've been having some pretty fucked up dreams."

"What kind of dreams?" His unit chief pressed.

"Nightmares. It seems like every time I close my fucking eyes I'm tormented by Suzette or Will and in all of the dreams, they end up killing one or both of my girls while I watch helplessly. It's gotten to the point where I barely sleep at all."

"I thought you've looked tired the last couple of days," Hotch remarked.

"I _wish_ I was tired. This goes well beyond tired, I'm exhausted. All I want to do is pass out, but I know if I do, I'll have another fucking nightmare. I feel just as fucked up as my daughter right now," Dave said defeated.

"Maybe you should talk to someone? It seems like it's been helping Abby."

Dave snorted at his friend's suggestion, "I don't _do_ shrinks, Aaron. I'll be fine; I just need to work this out on my own." With that, Dave got up and went back into his own office to work on some paperwork that had piled up while he'd been out.

Two hours later, after he'd yelled at some junior agents and had antagonized Strauss just for the fun of it; his appetite pulled him out of his office in search of his wife. He knew she had a busy day lined up, so he was planning on just taking her to the cafeteria at headquarters, but when he got to her office, he found it empty. Frowning in confusion, he saw Reid pass by the open door.

"Hey, Reid?" He called out, "Do you know where Jennifer is?"

"Me sir?" He asked, in what he thought was a nonchalant voice, "No sir, maybe she's with the documentary team?"

Dave's eyes narrowed as he appraised the young doctor; he knew from the moment Reid had opened his mouth that he was lying. Surprisingly, he looked a lot like his daughter did when she was trying to get away with something. "Where is she Reid?" He asked forcefully.

"Um, I really don't know, Agent Rossi," he stammered as he slowly backed out of the office.

"Bullshit!" Dave spat, "Do I look like I'm in the mood to be fucked with, Reid? Tell me where she is or I'll demonstrate some of the enhanced interrogation techniques we used back in the day."

Reid had heard rumors of the old school tactics before and he really didn't want to experience them firsthand, so he spilled his guts. "JJ's down in interrogation," he said, hoping that would be enough to quell the elder agent's curiosity. Of course, it wasn't.

"Why is she in interrogation?" He asked confused.

Reid sighed, "One of the anti-terrorism teams caught a guy who they think is part of a sleeper cell in Maryland. Apparently he's not talking, but they learned he has a weakness for blonde haired, blue eyed women so one of the guys approached JJ and asked if she'd sit in on an interrogation in hopes that the guy would open up to her. She agreed to do it and that's where she is now, although it's been an hour or so, so she should be back up here shortly."

"Are you telling me," Dave began, slowly and quietly, "That one of those assholes from anti-terrorism talked my still recovering wife into being part of an interrogation of a violent suspect?" Reid nodded his head, not realizing that the question was rhetorical. "And you didn't do anything to stop her?" He roared, wanting to kick the young doctor's ass up and down the hallway.

"I tried talking her out of it, I tried until I was nearly blue in the face, but you know how she gets!" Reid said, trying to defend himself. "I even went so far as to threaten to tell you about it and that's when she turned mean!"

"Mean? How so?" Dave asked.

"She threatened not only my livelihood but my reputation as well. She _knows_ people in the Bureau, Agent Rossi, and with one well placed rumor, my reputation would be shot. I couldn't take the chance that she'd follow through on her threat!"

Dave wanted to be pissed at the young agent, but he knew his wife could be intimidating when she wanted to be, so he let it go. "You know what Reid? You're lucky I'm angrier with her than I am with you right now. If I were you, I would get out of my sight and stay out of it for the rest of the day. Capice?"

"Yes sir," Reid said as he scurried away from the intimidating agent. He knew he'd lucked out by getting out of JJ's office still breathing and he wasn't about to push his luck any further.

Dave waited not so patiently in his wife's office. Between pacing and fuming on her couch, he was getting angrier by the minute and by the time JJ strolled in ten minutes later, he was fit to be tied.

He sat on the sofa and watched as his wife walked into her office as if nothing was wrong. She was having a lighthearted conversation on her cell phone and hadn't even noticed him sitting there. It wasn't until after she had ended her phone call and sat down behind her desk that she realized he was there.

"David!" She exclaimed, after he loudly cleared his throat. "How long have you been here?"

"Around fifteen minutes," he said calmly, but JJ could hear the anger in his voice and she thought back to something her daughter once said; a quiet and angry Dave was much scarier than a yelling and angry Dave. "Where were you Jen?"

"Oh, I was just helping out another team," she said breezily, hoping he didn't know where she'd been. "It was no big deal."

"No big deal?" He asked incredulously, "You helped with the interrogation of a suspected terrorist Jen, even though you're technically not supposed to even be back at work! I would say what you did was a VERY BIG DEAL!" By the end he was bellowing at the top of his lungs, and JJ had to work hard to keep from cringing.

"David," she started soothingly, but her husband would have none of it.

"No Jen, no way, don't think you're going to talk you're way out of this! When you said you were going to come back to work, you assured me it would only be for a week and that you would be doing nothing more than escorting a camera crew around the BAU and holding media inept profiler's hands during on-camera interviews, NOT going into enclosed spaces with psychos in the hope that by seeing you they would give up information! What the fuck were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that if I could help find the location of the rest of the members of the terrorist cell, then it would be worth the small amount of danger I was putting myself in. I was doing my JOB, David!" JJ yelled back, tired of having to justify her every move at work to her over protective husband.

"That's it, you're done here, we're leaving! I must have been _crazy_ to let you talk me into your coming back early, but thankfully I can rectify that! Let's go," he said as he got up and opened the door. He was amazed to see his wife shaking her head.

"No Dave, I'm not leaving just because you can't handle what I do. Was what I did dangerous? Minimally. Would I do it again under the circumstances? You bet. I'm an FBI agent, just like you, and I'm not going to pick and choose what type of risks I take. I love you, but I make my own decisions and I am deciding to stay here and finish my job."

Dave was less than happy with his wife at the moment, but he could tell that her mind was made up and he knew he wouldn't be able to change it, so he grudgingly accepted it. "I still think what you did today was foolhardy and reckless."

"And I've noted your opinion, but you need to move on," she told him as she grabbed her purse, "Come on, I'm starving, let's go grab lunch." She would wait until he was in a better mood to tell him that she would be needed at the office for part of the next week as well.

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After lunch, Dave went back to his office and got caught up on some emails. He fired one off to his publisher, who was now demanding the first draft of his overdue manuscript, and then he returned some personal correspondence. After that, he helped the team by taking some consultations and he worked diligently until nearly four o'clock, when his computer dinged, letting him know he had a new email. As he opened it, he saw it was from the Bureau shrink he'd seen earlier that morning, and as he read it, he felt his blood begin to boil.

_It is my recommendation that Agent Rossi be returned to active duty, contingent on his seeking on-going counseling for the psychological trauma he sustained over the past two months. Agent Rossi's lack of sleep, due mainly to nightmares, may make him a risk in the field and they need to be dealt with immediately. Failure on his part to engage in at least ten counseling sessions will result in an involuntary administrative leave pending a new, more in-depth, psychological evaluation._

The results were signed by the psychologist and approved by his unit chief. At that moment, Dave's lack of sleep, combined with the frustrations of the day, all came to a head and he stormed into his boss's office. He slammed the door behind him with such force that it popped open again, but he didn't notice as he was looking through a haze of red. "What the fuck Aaron?" He yelled. "A shrink? I've got to see a damned SHRINK in order to keep my credentials?"

"Dave, it's not as bad as it sounds," Hotch said, trying to sooth his friend and star profiler. "You see the Bureau counselor for a few weeks and then you'll be good as new."

"Twenty years, Aaron, TWENTY FUCKING YEARS! In that time, I've seen things that would make your hair curl and not once, NOT ONCE have I ever been forced to talk to a God damn SHRINK!" By now Dave's voice had drawn a crowd and most of the team, including JJ, was gathered in the hallway outside of Hotch's office.

"Dave-" Hotch started, but Dave wouldn't let him get a word in edgewise.

"NO Aaron! This is such a fucking insult, I don't even know where to begin! This is going to go on my record! After more than twenty years of service, it's going to say that I'm crazy, that I'm nuts! All because of a bad couple of months! Like I said before, I'VE SEEN WORSE!"

"Yes, you HAVE seen worse," Hotch shouted back, "But you've never seen it happen to your own wife and child! My GOD, Dave! I don't know how you didn't completely lose your mind after that, but you NEED to talk to someone about it and you need help with your nightmares! I can't have an agent in the field who is so exhausted he can't see straight!"

"You don't know what the fuck you're talking about! I guess the next time I ask if something is just between the two of us, I should know that it may, in fact, get back to a third party! You know, Garcia always said you couldn't keep a secret to save your life and now I know what she means. Thanks for telling that goddamned quack about my nightmares; believe me, I won't forget the betrayal!"

Sighing, Hotch said, "I'm sorry you're pissed Dave, but as your friend I want you to get over this and as your boss, I _need _ you to get over this before I can feel comfortable with you in the field. You can be pissed at me all you want, but the counseling is mandatory."

"You know what Hotch? Fuck you, I quit!" With that, Dave stormed out of the office, leaving a stunned unit chief and team behind him.


	80. Chapter 80

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 80

**~Thanks to everyone who voted for me in the CM Profiler's Choice Awards. This story won Best JJ/Rossi Fic! **

* * *

Hotch watched the retreating back of his friend and star agent in shock; he'd expected frustration and anger on Dave's part, but he'd never expected THAT! He hadn't expected the man to throw his career away over a few Bureau mandated therapy sessions! He loved his friend like a brother, but his behavior was too much even for him! Hotch felt his shock at the situation switch over to anger and he stormed out of his office, past his stunned teammates, and into the office of the newly resigned David Rossi.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" He asked loudly. "Quit acting like a child!"

"Like a child?" Dave yelled back, both shocked and pissed off, "I've been an agent for over twenty fucking years! I have one of the highest solve rates in the Bureau, my books generate a lot of positive press, I've been loyal to a fault, and I _still_ have to prove my place? I have to prove that I am capable of doing my job? Fuck that!" As he ranted, Dave began throwing various items from his desk into a box.

"That's NOT what's happening! For the love of Christ, the shrink cleared you to return to duty!" Hotch wanted to bang his friend's head into the wall, if only to knock some sense into him.

"Yeah, she cleared me for duty as long as I keep talking to one of the Bureau psychiatric quacks. That's the LAST fucking thing I need! Someone to interpret everything I say! God knows I'll start talking about my dreams and they'll attribute it to the fact that I never really loved my mother, or something equally as asinine! Who the hell makes their living like that? Who the hell _likes_ looking into other people's minds?" Dave roared at the top of his lungs.

Pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, Hotch had to talk himself out of slugging his best friend. "Might I remind you that you hold a degree in psychology? And might I also remind you that walking around in people's minds is exactly WHAT WE DO HERE? Jesus Dave, I didn't realize you had enough dexterity and flexibility to shove your head so far up your own ass!"

JJ, who had been watching from the hallway along with the rest of the team, saw her husband's face turn purple and she knew the situation was seconds away from turning violent. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the room. "Both of you need to quiet down! The camera crews are still in the building and God knows they don't need footage of this."

"No problem, babe," Dave snarled as he grabbed the box of belongings off of his desk, "I'm the fuck outta here! I'll wait for you down at the car." With that, he not so gently brushed past his former supervisor, stormed down the hallway and got into the elevator. Once the doors dinged shut, JJ turned to her boss.

"He didn't mean it Hotch," she said tiredly.

As much as he wanted to be pissed off at his friend, Hotch knew she was right. "He's losing it JJ, he's losing it big time."

She sighed, "I know and I'm not quite sure what to do about it."

"He needs to talk to someone about it,," Hotch said. "I know he doesn't want to, I know it doesn't jive with his idea of the big, strong, Italian male as the indestructible protector of his family, but he has to work through what happened. As a father, I can't imagine what he went through and he can't keep all of that fear, frustration and anger bottled up inside."

"You're right, but I'm not sure how to do it," she told him. "Don't put his retirement paperwork in yet; I know my husband and once he's cooled down, he'll change his mind."

"Even if he does, the original psych eval stands; his return is contingent upon him completing his therapy."

JJ nodded, "He will, even if I have to hog tie him and drag him down to the shrink's office."

"Okay," Hotch agreed, "I can probably hold off on his paperwork until Monday, but that's it. Once Strauss gets wind of this, she'll probably fill out the paperwork herself and then dance it down to human resources."

JJ snorted at the image, "You're right, but at least I'll have the weekend to talk to him."

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As she got down to the waiting SUV, JJ took a deep breath and got in on the passenger side. Once inside, she buckled her seatbelt and sat quietly as her husband pulled out of the parking garage. She waited for him to say something about what had just happened, but he didn't. Instead, he stared out the windshield and whistled along with the radio as if nothing had happened.

"You can go right to the cabin David, we're not picking Abby up today," JJ told him quietly.

He frowned, "How is she get home?"

"I let her stay after school to work on a project with Becca and she's giving her a ride to the cabin."

"Okay," Dave said as he turned onto the highway that would take them to the cabin, and that was the last thing he said until they got home. By that time, JJ had had enough of ignoring the elephant in the room.

"Are we going to talk about what happened?" She asked as they walked into the kitchen.

"What's there to talk about? I quit my job, end of story," Dave said petulantly.

"You quit your JOB?" Abby asked incredulously as she came into the room.

JJ was surprised to see her home so early, she never would have started with Dave if she had known her daughter would be home to witness their imminent argument. "Yes, your father quit his job today."

"Why? What happened?"

"Your Uncle Aaron and I had a bit of a disagreement and I quit," Dave told her and then heard his wife give a snort of frustration. "You have something to add, Jen?"

"Not to add, to clear up! You didn't just 'quit your job' today Dave, you acted like a child who wasn't getting his own way! After getting the results of your pysch eval, which you didn't agree with, you stormed into our unit chief's office, the unit chief who's your best friend I might add, and you threw a tantrum that would have made your daughter proud-"

"Hey!" Abby interjected, taking offense.

"Sorry honey," JJ said and then went back to her husband, "And then after your tantrum, you swore at him and quit! Did you even think about it beforehand or did you just revert back to what you do best?"

"And what would that be?" He asked angrily.

"Speaking without thinking! Once again you let your anger take over your mouth! Did it ever occur to you that Hotch and the psychologist might be right? Maybe you _do _need to talk to someone about what happened!"

"I'm fine," Dave snarled through clenched teeth, "And I'm not going to spill my guts to a goddamn shrink!"

"You're _not_ fine, David!" JJ yelled back at him, "You haven't slept more than a few hours each night for the past week and a half! My God, do I have to trick you like we did Abby? Do I need to tell you we're going to a baseball game and then take you to a psychiatrist just to get you to go?"

"I would love to know how I keep getting pulled into this," Abby mumbled as she stood towards the back of the kitchen, watching her parents fight. This hadn't been part of her plan for the evening. When she'd gotten home early, she had planned on making an early dinner, and then studying the rest of the night; she hadn't anticipated one of her parent's world class arguments.

"It's not happening Jen, so drop it!" He spat. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence that was finally broken by the beeping of the oven timer.

"Dinner's ready," Abby announced, grateful that there was something to distract them from the tension in the room.

Reminding himself that his daughter hadn't done anything to deserve his anger, he took a deep breath in through his nose, "It smells great, Pumpkin. What'd you make?"

"I just reheated the beef dish I made for dinner a couple of nights ago," she told him as she set it on the counter. The three of them grabbed plates, utensils and drinks and headed for the backyard deck. Once settled, there was an uncomfortable silence at the table.

Abby finally broke the oppressive silence, "Is it okay if I go out to dinner with Nonna tomorrow night? I have an appointment with Dr. Kendall at four and Nonna and I want to meet up for a bite to eat afterwards."

"How will you get home?" JJ asked.

"It'll be an early supper, so I thought I would take the Metro as far as I can and then have one of you pick me up."

JJ looked at her husband, who gave a non-committal shrug, and nodded, "Okay Abby, you can go out with your grandmother tomorrow night."

"If you tell her about any of this, about me quitting my job or the moronic psych eval, you won't see your car until you're driving it on your first day of college, capice?" Dave said snarkily.

"You can't dictate what I tell Nonna!" Abby said, stunned by her father's directive.

He snorted, "The hell I can't!"

"Fine!" She exclaimed and then mumbled something under her breath.

"What was that Abby? I didn't quite hear what you said." Dave's anger was right at the surface again and Abby knew it. Unfortunately, she realized that after she'd spoken.

"I _said_, what's the difference? I'll probably still be grounded by then anyway."

"Do you really want to start this now?" He asked incredulously. Could she really not tell the mood he was in? So much for the profiling gene!

Thankfully for Abby's future, the profiling gene kicked in at that moment and she just shook her head. The rest of the dinner the dinner was spent listening to various complaints laid out by Dave. First it was the guys who came to fix a couple of dings on the wall in the study from the horrible night with Suzette. Apparently they hadn't done the job to his satisfaction and he didn't feel shy letting both of them know about it. Then it was about something he'd heard on the radio. Then he went on about one of the interns he'd upset that day. The last straw for Abby was when he complained about her shoes by the door.

"What about them?" She asked, surprised.

"They're lying right in the middle of the hallway, I nearly broke my neck when I came in."

"No they're not!" She protested, "I made sure to put them against the wall when I got home, right next to _your _pair of tennis shoes and mom's pair of flip-flops."

"Well, I didn't see my shoes, but I saw yours and your mother's and they were both in the way, and if it happens again, you'll be grounded."

Abby set her fork down with a clatter, "Can I be excused?" She asked her mother and saw her glance at her nearly full plate. "I don't have much of an appetite tonight, I wonder why." The last part was said under her breath, but both of her parents heard it.

Seeing her husband about to open his mouth, JJ beat him to the punch, "Okay honey, you can go." With that, Abby picked up her plate and started for the kitchen, giving her dad a nasty look on the way into the house.

"You just let her leave the table? After what she mumbled? Plus, she barely touched her dinner!" Dave ranted.

JJ sighed, "You know, when you're an asshole to your friends and the people you work with, that's one thing, but it's another to take it out on your family," she said quietly. "Both Abby and I have tried to be patient and understanding with you and we don't deserve to be treated the way we were tonight." Following her daughter's lead, she also got up and took her half eaten meal to the kitchen, leaving her husband to finish his supper in total silence.

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Six hours later, Dave awoke from yet _another_ nightmare. In this one, both Suzette and Will ganged up on the three of them and killed them in the study. Luckily, he was able to hold his scream back and he managed to not wake his wife. Knowing sleep wouldn't be returning for awhile, if at all, he got up from the bed and threw on his robe. Before he left the bedroom, he lovingly stroked his wife's cheek and stared at her for a moment. He knew he'd been a jackass to both her and Abby that night, and he'd apologized to her before they went bed that night. Thankfully, she'd accepted his apology without too much groveling on his part and they'd made up. They made up three times, in fact, and it got better with each time. Hearing a noise from the first floor pulled him from his reverie and he went downstairs to investigate.

He found the source of the noise sitting on one of the stools at the kitchen island, snacking on Cheetos and drinking a glass of milk. She had only the stove light on and she jumped nearly a mile when he flipped on the overhead light.

Abby, who was startled by the sudden bright light in the room, bit back a scream as she whipped her head around. "Dad! You scared the crap out of me!"

"Sorry Pumpkin, I didn't mean to. What are you doing up?"

"I got hungry, so I came down for a midnight snack," she told him, leaving out the fact that she'd been awakened by a nightmare.

Dave thought back to her half eaten supper and knew that Cheetos was a pretty poor excuse for a meal. "Let me cook you something," he said as he opened the refrigerator. He looked around for something easy to make and spotted a carton of eggs. "How about some scrambled eggs?"

Abby was still pissed at him, but eggs sounded good, so she gave him a terse nod. Dave correctly interpreted her mood and stayed silent as he cooked, only asking her if she wanted cheese in her eggs. A few minutes later, he set the plate down in front of her and watched as she dug into the food.

"I'm sorry about earlier, Pumpkin," he said as he sat down next to her. "I haven't slept well in a while and I had a bad day and I took it out on you and your mother. Neither of you deserved the treatment I dished out tonight."

Abby really wanted to tell her father to go to hell, that if _she'd_ acted like that, she would have been grounded, but since she wanted to come off her restrictions sometime before she was eighty, she didn't. Instead she nodded her head, "It's okay dad, I understand." She meant what she said; she _did_ understand what he was going through since she'd gone through the same thing after the attacks. Hell, she was _still _going through it, as evidenced by her own nightmare that night.

Dave thought about what she said for a minute, "I guess if _anyone _understands, it really is you, but that still doesn't excuse my behavior tonight."

Abby waved her fork in front of her, "Whatever, I've seen you act _much_ worse," she said with a grin on her face.

"Oh you have, have you?" He said, smiling back at her.

"Oh yeah, you can be a real jerk when you want to be," she said as she took a bite of eggs. "But dad? Maybe you _should_ see someone about this. I mean, I've only been meeting with Dr. Kendall for a little while and she's already helped me a lot."

Dave sighed, "I know she has honey, but it's different for me…I really don't want to talk about it right now," he said. "What about you? How was your day?" They talked for another ten minutes before Dave noticed the time and directed Abby back to bed. They both walked up the stairs together and parted at their respective doors, with Dave planting a kiss on his daughter's forehead. He felt much better knowing she was no longer mad at him.

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The next day was a long one for both JJ and Abby. JJ had to pretty much lie to the camera crew when they asked about the big blow up the previous day, and then she had to explain to Hotch why her husband hadn't come in to work with her. Not only that, but she was vetting her temporary replacement for when she took her sabbatical starting the following week. Knowing her husband would probably come looking for her if she didn't leave work at their agreed upon time of four-thirty, she crammed a week's worth of work into one day. She was actually rather happy that Dave wasn't there, because he would have chewed her out for doing so much work in such a short amount of time.

Along with JJ, Abby also had an incredibly busy day. First, she had a major test that day at school, followed by pop quizzes in two of her other classes. After school, she met with her social studies group, so they could work on a group project that was due in a week and then she had an appointment with Dr. Kendall. After that, she took the Metro into Georgetown where she met up with her grandmother for a leisurely dinner. Heeding her father's warning, she didn't tell Nonna about her father quitting his job or about his bad dreams and lack of sleep. Even though he'd apologized for his behavior the previous night, she was fairly certain he would follow through on his threat about her car and she really wanted to drive before the following autumn. Finally, at around seven-thirty, she and Nonna parted ways and she got back on the Metro and took it to the stop closest to the cabin. She called her mom to come pick her up, and ten minutes later she was sitting in the front seat of the SUV.

"How was your day?" JJ asked, as they made their way home.

"Busy," she said. "It doesn't help that I feel like crap."

"Are you getting sick?" JJ asked as she reached over and placed the back of her right hand against Abby's forehead. She felt cool, but JJ knew that when Abby got sick, she usually went from 'fine' to 'sick as a dog' in no time.

"I think I'm getting the cold that's been going around school. I feel achy and my throat is getting sore. I'm going to go to bed as soon as we get home."

"Good idea," JJ said as she turned onto the long gravel driveway that eventually ended at the cabin. Once there, she put the SUV in the garage and walked with Abby into the kitchen. Abby got herself a glass of water, bid her mother goodnight and then made her way to the stairs. On her way, she passed by the study and heard what sounded like someone whimpering. She hadn't been in there since the night with Paul and Suzette, but she couldn't ignore what she'd heard, so she pushed the partially opened door all the way open and looked in.

Her dad had fallen asleep in the easy chair and it looked like he was in the middle of an intense nightmare. She knew all too well what that was like and she knew she always felt reassured and safe when her parents woke her from one, so she swallowed her fear of the room and tentatively entered it. She walked over to where her dad was and gave his shoulder a light shake, "Wake up dad." She didn't get a response from him, so she tried again. "Wake up dad!" She said more forcefully as she stood in front of him and shook him harder. She was about to call for her mom to help her when she felt his hands close around her upper arms and then felt herself flying through the air.


	81. Chapter 81

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 81

**~Be sure to check out the poll about this story on my profile!**

**~Once again, thanks to everyone who's been reviewing this story, they keep me motivated!**

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In his dream, Dave was running into the ER looking for his girls. He'd walked into the cabin and seen them both lying in pools of their own blood, with a note from Suzette next to them. He'd called 911 and helped them as best as he could before the paramedics got there, but deep down he'd known it was too late. Once in the ER, he had to run an endless gauntlet of doctors and nurses, each one more and more determined to keep him from his family. One doctor in particular was insistent upon keeping him out of the room and had actually grabbed his arms and shook him to keep him in place. Dave didn't react well to that, and he'd physically grabbed the doctor and thrown him out of the way. As soon as he did that, he heard a loud crash and abruptly awoke from the horrible dream.

He looked to his right and saw that the end table next to the wall had been broken, along with the lamp, and for some reason his daughter was laying in a daze on the ground next to the mess.

"Abby?" He said, confused. A light bulb went on in his head and he was horrified. "Holy shit, did _I _do that?" He asked as he got up from his chair. As he approached his daughter, his wife ran into the room; she'd heard the noise from the kitchen and wanted to make sure everyone was okay.

"What happened?" She asked as she saw her daughter lying on the ground near the rubble that had been the end table. Her husband looked like he was in a state of shock and he seemed frozen in place. JJ dashed over to Abby, who was picking herself up off of the ground. "Are you okay, honey?" JJ asked, still not sure what had gone on.

Picking herself up off of the ground, Abby said, still in a daze, "I'm…I'm fine." Her voice was soft and she sounded confused as she brushed herself off. She wasn't quite sure what had happened, but she was shocked that her dad reacted physically to her waking him up. She didn't feel fear towards him, just…well she didn't know what she felt, her emotions were in a jumble.

"Jesus, Pumpkin, I'm so sorry! I never-"

Abby interrupted her father, "I know dad, it was an accident, it was part of your nightmare. I get it," she said as she unconsciously rubbed her right hip. It had hit the wall pretty hard and she could already feel a large bruise forming.

"Still, I can't believe…are you sure you're okay?" He asked somewhat frantically, still standing off to the side as if he didn't trust himself to be near her.

Abby nodded, "I think so," she said as her mom sat her down on the sofa to look her over. Just being back in the study made Abby feel panicky and sitting in the same places they had been in during that horrible night made her downright terrified and she shakily stood up from the couch. "I'm okay, but I can't be in this room right now. I…I think I'll go to bed like I originally planned," she said, as she quickly made her way to the door. "Goodnight," she said over her shoulder as she left the room and went up the stairs.

"What the hell happened, Dave?" JJ asked softly but forcefully. She had a pretty good idea of what had gone on in the room and she knew her husband was feeling horrible about it. She didn't want to sound accusatory with him and add to his feelings of guilt, so she kept her voice low and even.

"I-I had a nightmare and in it, one of the doctors was blocking me from you and I threw him across the room, but it wasn't the doctor I hurt, it was…fuck Jen, it was Abby! I threw her into the wall! I threw her so hard that she broke the fucking table! Jesus Christ!"

"It wasn't your fault Dave!" JJ said, still sounding patient, but a little louder than before. "You were in the middle of a nightmare; we've all reacted physically to those before."

"Yeah but…Jesus! Have you ever thrown a teenager halfway across the room during one of yours? How the fuck could I have done that? I should have _known_!" He said, standing up. One of the only promises he'd made to himself when he first found out he was a father was that he would never physically harm his child and he'd blown that promise tonight, whether on purpose or not.

"How could you know, you were dreaming," JJ told him. She knew the feelings of guilt had to be crushing him by now and she wanted to try and alleviate some of those feelings if she could.

"Take her to the ER, Jen, make sure she's alright," he told her, his voice breaking at the end.

"She's _fine_, Dave, she would have told us if she wasn't."

"I know she _said _she's okay, but I have to be sure, I have to know…I have to know I didn't hurt her too badly," he said hoarsely. "I threw her hard enough to break the goddamn table, and she's just getting over a concussion! _Please_ Jen; take her to see a doctor."

There was an edge of hysteria to his voice, so JJ nodded her agreement, "Okay, I'll take her to see my doctor friend, that way there won't be anything official in her medical file."

"Thank you," he said gratefully, with tears in his eyes. He blindly grabbed his keys from his desk and headed out of the room.

"Where are you going?" JJ asked, following him to the kitchen, where he opened the door to the garage.

"I can't face her right now, Jen," he said, guilt dripping from every word. "I have to get away from here, I have to think."

"Dave, stay and talk about this-" JJ started, knowing that her husband was not in any condition to drive.

"I can't, honey, I…I just can't. Please take her to the doctor so I _know_ she's okay."

"Alright Dave, but you drive carefully and remember, this _wasn't_ your fault." She gave him a gentle kiss on the lips, which he barely returned, and then watched as he walked out the door. A minute later, she heard the large garage door raise and his SUV pull out. Once she knew her husband was gone, she sighed and made her way to her daughter's room. Knocking lightly, she heard Abby invite her in and she opened the door to find her daughter already in her pajamas.

"How are you really?" She asked as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

"I'm really okay, mom," Abby told her. "I'm a little banged up, but I don't think I'm hurt anywhere; I'm more surprised than anything."

"Just to be sure, I'm going to call Pete and have him come take a look at you." JJ saw her daughter shake her head, so she clarified, "Abby, your dad feels terrible about this and he wants to make sure you're definitely all right. If we don't do this, I wouldn't put it past him to drag you to the ER tonight."

"Fine," Abby said with a sigh, anything was better than the ER. "Where _is_ dad?" She asked.

"He left for a little while; like I said, he feels horrible about what happened, and he needed a little space to clear his head."

"He shouldn't feel bad, I know what it's like to have vivid nightmares," Abby told her, "Besides, didn't I give him a bruise along his jaw line when he woke me from one of _my _dreams?"

"You did, but it's different for him," JJ said. "Why don't you come lay down in the great room and I'll go call Peter."

"'Kay mom," Abby said, getting up from her nice, comfy bed. She walked down the stairs with her mom a bit stiffly, since she was a bit sore from the encounter in the study, but she didn't want her mom to know that. Once on the first floor, she bundled up on the sofa while her mom called the doctor.

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An hour and a half later, after Pete gave her daughter a clean bill of health, JJ began wondering where her husband was. When he said he needed to clear his head, she had assumed that he would drive around for a little while and think about things, but she hadn't expected him to be gone for nearly two hours. Finally, after calling him numerous times and having the calls go to voicemail, JJ finally called her best friend/technological genius. Garcia tracked Dave's car to one of the team's favorite bars in Georgetown and from there, JJ called on a bigger gun to help her.

Dialing her unit chief and friend's cell phone number, she prayed he would pick up.

"Hotchner."

As soon as she heard his voice, JJ gave a sigh of relief. "Hi Hotch, it's JJ. I need your help.

Hearing the distress in his friend's voice, Hotch said, "What can I do for you, JJ?"

She gave him a rundown on everything that had happened that night. "Can you please go to the Ivory Bar and make sure he isn't pickling his liver? He feels terrible and guilty about what happened and he shouldn't, it was a nightmare for God sake. I need him to know he can come home and face us without worry."

"I'll go JJ, but I have to warn you, if he keeps acting like an asshole and if he maintains that he doesn't need any help with this stuff, it's going to turn into a tough love session."

"Hotch-" JJ began tiredly, but he wouldn't let her get any farther.

"He's my best friend, JJ and he's hurting. Something _has_ to knock some sense into him, and if this thing with Abby hasn't, then _I_ will," Hotch said forcefully.

"Okay," she said, "But if it gets to that point, you have to make it clear you're not beating the crap out of him because he hurt Abby, that kind of guilt will eat him alive."

"I will," Hotch said, "How is she?"

"She's fine, other than a couple of minor bruises. She's worried about Dave and she's honestly wondering why he's making such a big deal out of this. She's probably the one person who understands best what's going on with him," JJ said, realizing that their situation was pretty fucked up when their seventeen year-old daughter could understand how a nightmare could turn violent.

Hotch hung up with JJ, grabbed his car keys and headed for his car. Along the way he called one other person to help him talk to the most stubborn man in America. Thankfully, he was able to reach the priest and he agreed to meet him outside of the bar.

Twenty minutes later, Hotch and Father Jimmy walked into the Ivory Bar. Pausing for a moment to let their eyes adjust to the dim lighting, they walked up to the bar.

"Hotch, it's been awhile," the bartender said, greeting the FBI agent. "I'll bet I know why you're here."

"Where is he, Tony?" Hotch asked, looking around the pub.

"He's in the booth in the back corner. He came in and asked for a shot Patron. I cut him off after six shots, but he grabbed the bottle out of my hand, slapped a hundred dollar bill down on the table and headed for the back," Tony said, setting a pitcher of ice water down, along with three empty cups. "What the hell happened, man? He looked like he was in a bad state of mind when he got here."

"It's a long story Tony, thanks for the water and the information." Hotch picked up the pitcher and he and Jimmy made their way back to the corner booth. Thankfully his friend's back was facing them, so Hotch came up behind Dave and snatched the nearly empty bottle of Patron away from him.

"What the fuck?" Dave snarled and then looked up. Seeing his two best friends standing next to him, he gave a loud sigh. "Jen sent you, didn't she?"

"She's worried about you," Jimmy said, sliding into the booth across from him. Hotch followed suit, and soon both men were facing an intoxicated David Rossi.

"Dave-" Hotch started, but Dave read his mind and interrupted him.

"I'll go to the counseling sessions, Aaron," he said softly, "I'll talk to whoever you want me to, I'll get help."

Hotch blinked, "Well…good," he finally said.

Dave looked up at him, "Did you really think I wouldn't after this?" He asked, reaching for the Patron. Jimmy held it out of his reach and handed him a glass of water instead. "I hurt her tonight, I hurt the one person on the planet I'm supposed to protect. I threw my daughter into a goddamn wall, of course I'll talk to someone if it will help me!"

"It wasn't your fault, Dave," Jimmy said softly, "It just...happened."

Dave looked at his oldest friend as though he was crazy. "What the fuck are you talking about Jimmy? Of _course _it's my fault, this whole _thing _is my fault! Jennifer getting shot, my fault. Abby seeing it live on TV, my fault. Abby nearly dying at Will's hand, my fault! Suzette and Paul terrorizing and nearly killing all THREE of us, my fault! Don't you see, the hell our lives have become is ALL MY FAULT, and I put the cherry on top of that pile of shit tonight by physically harming my own flesh and blood!"

Hotch was about to respond to Dave's diatribe, but the priest sitting next to him beat him to the punch. "Take your head out of your ass, Davie!" Both Dave and Hotch were shocked that the priest had actually used profanity, but Jimmy was just getting started. "Are you really so self-centered that you think everything that has happened to you and your family is your fault? We all knew Suzette was crazy since the day you brought her home to meet your family and she was the one who ended your marriage, not you. She was also the one who confronted you in Philadelphia and yes, you threatened her alimony, but _she _was the one who started the vendetta against you and your family, not you! _She_ decided, on her own, to try to ruin your life and your girls' lives, not you! You need to come down off the cross Davie, because someone needs it more than you do!"

"Fuck you Jimmy, you have no idea what you're talking about!"

"I swear by all that's holy Davie, if we weren't in a public place right now, I would knock a couple of teeth down your throat, if only to knock some sense into you!" Jimmy said loudly. "Tonight was NOT your fault! Suzette was the one who made your life a living hell and it's because of HER that you're having these nightmares! JJ understands that, _Abby _understands that, why can't you?"

"Because I hurt her! Jesus Christ, I hurt my daughter! I don't care that I was in the middle of a nightmare when I did it, the simple fact remains that I HURT HER!"

"Maybe you did, Dave," Hotch said quietly, "But she's not holding it against you, if anything she's worried about you, along with JJ."

"Really?" Dave asked.

Hotch nodded "Abby understands what it's like to have nightmares, in fact, JJ told me she's wondering why you're making such a big deal out of the situation."

"Really?" Dave asked again.

"Really," Hotch affirmed. "Right now Abby's more worried about you and your state of mind than she is about herself."

"Did Jen say how Abby was doing? Did she have a doctor check her out?"

"The doctor gave Abby a clean bill of health," Hotch said.

"Thank God," Dave breathed and then tried standing up.

"Where are you going?" Jimmy asked, also standing.

"I've got to get home to them," he said, wobbling as he took a few steps.

"No way," Jimmy told him, grabbing him around the waist to support him. "You're coming home with me to sleep this off."

"I've got to go home, Jimmy," Dave whined.

"Do you really think your daughter needs to see you like this?" The priest asked. Dave thought for a second and then shook his head, which caused him to stumble. "No, she doesn't. Stay overnight at the rectory and then you can talk to her tomorrow."

"Okay," Dave agreed. Even in his muddled state of mind, he knew that he didn't want to fuck things up any further with his daughter by having her see him this way.

Once outside, Hotch helped the priest put the drunken profiler into his car and then headed for his own car. He called JJ along the way and updated her on what was happening, picked up Emily from her place and then headed home. He knew he'd left his friend with one of the only people on the planet that wouldn't tolerate his bullshit, and he smiled at the thought of the hangover he would have the next day.


	82. Chapter 82

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 82

**~This next chapter is finished, I just have to edit it. Enough reviews might encourage me to post it later today instead of tomorrow!**

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The next morning, JJ heard her daughter before she actually saw her; from the sound of it, Abby had developed a nasty cough during the night. "You're up awfully late," she remarked as the teen beelined it for the coffeepot. It was almost eleven o'clock and while Abby was a typical teenager who liked to sleep in on the weekends, she was normally up and around before ten, especially considering she went to bed fairly early the night before.

"Mmmm," Abby moaned as she poured herself a cup of the caffeinated brew. She tried not to visibly wince as she swallowed the hot liquid, as she needed to meet with her group to work on a project and she didn't want her mother stopping her.

"How are you feeling?" JJ asked, narrowing her eyes at her daughter.

"Fine," Abby said, sounding stuffy and raspy at the same time.

"Mmm hmmm," JJ said, disbelievingly. Usually when her daughter got sick, they needed to nearly physically restrain her in order to for her to get the needed rest and it seemed like this time would be no exception. Crossing over to where her daughter stood, JJ pressed the back of her hand to Abby's forehead and then to each of her cheeks before she finally kissed her forehead to gauge if she had a fever. Surprisingly, Abby felt cool to the touch, but she still sounded like crap. "You're obviously not feeling well, why don't you go back up to bed?" JJ suggested.

Abby shook her head, "I can't, I've got to meet with my group to work on our project. Becca's picking me up in a few minutes," she said, glancing at the time on the microwave.

"But what about your grandmother? She's coming for lunch today," JJ reminded her daughter.

"Damn, I totally forgot about that!" Abby said and then, seeing the look her mother was giving her, walked over to the swear jar and deposited a dollar. "I _have_ to be at this meeting! I missed a lot of the preliminary stuff when we were stuck here, I can't miss any more!"

"Go," JJ said, "I'll explain to Marie why you aren't here. Will you be back for dinner?"

Abby nodded, "I should be home later this afternoon." She swallowed the last of her coffee and then looked around the room. "Is dad around?"

JJ shook her head, "He spent the night at the rectory with Jimmy."

Abby's brow furrowed, "Why?"

"He had a lot to drink last night and couldn't drive home," JJ explained. "He's really upset about what happened, honey."

"Well that's just stupid, he shouldn't be!" Abby told her, "He was in the middle of a bad dream and he reacted, he shouldn't feel bad about that!"

"Well, he does," JJ said, "He feels horrible about hurting you."

"But I wasn't hurt! Other than a couple of bruises, I'm fine; he needs to get the hell over it," Abby said and then heard a horn honk in the driveway. "Gotta go, I'll see you later!" And with that, Abby shoved another dollar into the swear jar and ran out the front door.

Alone once again, JJ wondered what she would tell Marie when she got to the cabin. Of course she would understand Abby's absence, but what would she tell her about Dave's? Would she be upset at what had happened? Would she be angry that Dave wasn't able to handle everything the way he had when he was younger? Would she want him to continue to put up a brave front?Sighing, JJ also wondered what in the hell she was going to serve for lunch since the two cooks in the family were not in the building.

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Dave glanced at the clock on the car stereo as he turned off of the highway and onto the long, gravel driveway that led to the cabin. 'Three o'clock, not bad,' he thought to himself as the cabin came into view. He pulled his car into the garage that was attached to the cabin, cut the engine and then sat in the silence for a few minutes. He knew he would have to go in and face his wife and daughter, but he wasn't sure what he would say to them when he did it. From the little bit he remembered from the previous night, Abby and Jen didn't hold what he did against him, but he sure as hell did. The one thing in his personal code he had always vowed never to do was physically hurt a woman. Through all three of his marriages there had been yelling, screaming, name calling, disparaging remarks about various anatomical parts, threats and even cheating on the part of his first wife, but he had never physically harmed any of them. It had taken incredible self control at times, but he'd never wanted to become the type of man who injured the fairer sex. Unfortunately, he'd become that guy the previous night, and he'd become it with his daughter.

Sure, they could all tell him that it wasn't his fault, and deep down they may believe it, but he knew better. If he'd gotten help after the attacks, if he'd talked to someone right away, then maybe the intense nightmares could have been avoided and he wouldn't have thrown his daughter across a room. Hell, at the very least he should have warned her to never wake him when he was in the midst of a bad dream. No, he knew it was his fault and he wouldn't blame both his daughter and his wife if they held it against him for the rest of their lives.

Taking a deep breath and shoring up his courage, Dave exited his car and entered the cabin through the kitchen door, expecting to see either his wife or his daughter in the room. To his surprise and dismay, he found his mother sitting at the kitchen table.

"Well, well, well," she said as she glanced at the clock. "Look what the cat dragged in." Dave knew she wasn't just being funny, he looked like hell. He'd been too drunk to change into the pajamas Jimmy had loaned him the previous night, so he'd slept in the clothes he was currently wearing. He'd slept until well past noon, and he hadn't shaved or properly combed his hair. He knew he looked like shit.

"Hi ma," he said meekly, he wondered how much she knew about the past few days.

"You look like hell, son," Marie said, with a touch of compassion in her voice. "Sit, let me pour you some coffee."

Dave followed his mother's instructions and sat down at the kitchen table. She got up, poured him a cup and set it in front of him. As she brought her hand back up from the table, she gently ruffled his hair, as if he was a little boy.

"Here's that article I was talking about, Marie," JJ said as she came back into the room, holding a piece of paper. She saw her husband sitting at the table and stopped in her tracks. Looking him up and down, she raised an eyebrow, "Going for the functional homeless look, Dave?"

He rolled his eyes, "More like the functional alcoholic," he said wryly.

JJ smiled and then narrowed her eyes on him, "Why aren't you hung over?" She asked. While he looked like a hobo in training, he had none of the tell-tale symptoms of a hangover and she was intrigued.

"Are you kidding? Back in the day, Jimmy used to drink like a fish and he has a cure-all hangover recipe. I haven't been hungover since I was fifteen years old."

Marie looked horrified, "I don't know which part of that statement disturbs me more; the fact that you used to get drunk at fifteen, or the fact that our priest apparently has a secret cure for hangovers!"

Dave grinned and then remembered why he'd been drinking and the smile faded from his face. "Where's Abby?" He asked.

"She's in the city working on a school project with some of her friends. Becca's going to drop her off here afterwards," JJ told him. "Why don't you sit down and I'll fix you a sandwich."

Dave dropped into one of the chairs, "How is she Jen? What did the doctor say?"

"Pete said she was fine, other than a cold. She has a couple of bruises and she's a little achy, but she's okay, Dave," JJ said as she spread mayo onto a roll. "We talked before she left this morning and she said, and I'm quoting here, that you need to 'get the hell over it.'"

Dave snorted, he could hear his daughter saying that. "How can she be okay with it, Jen? I physically attacked her!"

"No you didn't Dave, you had a nightmare and she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I know you feel guilty, but you shouldn't; Abby isn't holding this against you and neither am I." She set a roast beef sandwich and a large glass of ice water down in front of him and then she took a seat next to Marie. "That being said, Dave, you have to go talk to someone about this."

"Jen-" Dave tried interrupting, but JJ continued as if he hadn't said anything.

"I know you didn't react physically on purpose, but it can't happen again. You're a lot stronger than either of us, honey, and if it happens again, the outcome could be much, much worse," JJ said gently.

"I know that talking to a professional doesn't mesh with your idea of what a man, what a head of a family should act like, Davie," Marie said, picking up the thread, "But you have to let that idea go, son. You and your family have been through something horrible and you need to talk about it, you need to get it out of your system, not just for yourself, but for your wife and daughter."

"Dad was always strong, he never needed any outside help with his problems," Dave muttered, but his mother heard what he said.

"No, he didn't, but those were different times and look what happened; your father died of a heart attack when he was forty years old! You don't have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders like you did when you were younger, you have people around you now that can help you and you need to avail yourself of some of their services." Marie was concerned about her son, she didn't want the stress of the past two months to put him into an early grave.

"You both are right, and I _am _going to talk to someone; I told Hotch and Jimmy as much last night," Dave said, looking at the table. "I never again want to be in the position where I cause physical harm to my daughter, whether it was intentional or not. I'm going to call Dr. Kendall first thing Monday morning and ask her to recommend someone for me."

"Thank God," JJ said softly as she grabbed his hand and stroked the back of it with her thumb. She'd expected a knock-down, drag out fight with her husband over this and she was relieved that he'd agreed so easily.

"You're doing the right thing, Davie," Marie said, also relieved.

"Did you ask Hotch if that would fulfill the counseling mandate from the Bureau psychologist? Did you talk to him about rescinding your resignation?" JJ asked, forgetting she hadn't told Marie about that part of the ordeal.

"Resignation?" Marie asked, "You resigned from the Bureau?" She was shocked that he would quit over something like this. While she hated his line of work, he loved being an FBI agent, even if he had dropped to consultant status while Abby was finishing high school.

"Um, I didn't exactly like the results of my psych eval, or the fact that they were forcing me into counseling, so I resigned…very loudly and very publicly," Dave said, looking back down at the table. He felt like he was six years old again, confessing to a wrong doing under his mother's watchful eye.

"David Rossi, please tell me the inevitable vitriol you spewed was directed towards Aaron and not Erin Strauss!" Marie knew that her son had probably laced his resignation rant with various obscenities and she also knew that if he'd directed the diatribe towards Strauss, he could kiss his career goodbye. At least Aaron was used to her son's tantrums and he might have a chance with his friend.

"I gave Aaron my resignation and I'm hoping he hasn't sent the paperwork through yet."

"He hasn't," JJ told him.

"How do you know?" He asked.

"Because I asked him to wait until Monday. I figured once you took your head out of your ass, you'd eventually remember how much you love working for the Bureau and agree to counseling," she said as she stood up and deposited some money into the swear jar.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Dave said, "Thanks honey, I owe you one."

"How about you pay me back by taking a nice long shower," she said, wrinkling her nose. "You smell like a cross between a distillery and a zoo."

"You got it, Jen," he said as he leaned over to give her a kiss. As he did, she leaned away from him.

"After the shower, Dave."

He grinned sheepishly, got up from the table and headed for the stairs. About five minutes later, the two women heard the shower start and five minutes after that, they heard the front door open.

Once again, JJ heard her daughter before she saw her and her cough sounded like it had gotten worse. As Abby appeared in the doorway, JJ could see she was bright with fever, her nose was red and runny and from the way she was standing, she was achy.

"You look horrible, honey," JJ said as she crossed the room to her. She kissed her on the forehead and was not surprised when she felt the heat radiating from it.

"I _feel_ horrible," she said, her voice sounding hoarse. "Hi Nonna."

"Hello Little One," Marie said, getting up to give her granddaughter a hug. Abby stopped her when she was halfway to her.

"No, stay away from me Nonna, I don't want to get you sick."

"Pshaw," Marie said, waving her hand in front of her. "The day I don't hug my granddaughter because she's sick is the day they can roll me into my grave," she said putting her arms around the feverish girl. "Besides, I sat next to you at the restaurant last night, so I've already been exposed." She released her and stepped back, taking a good look at her. "You look miserable."

Abby nodded, the action making her dizzy, "I am," she said, "Where's dad? Is he home yet?"

"He is, but he's up in the shower," JJ told her. "I want you to go upstairs and get into bed; we'll wake you for dinner."

Abby shook her head and then nearly fell down from the dizziness it caused, "I want to talk to dad when he's done in the shower. How about if I lay down in the great room?"

JJ thought for a second, "Okay, but I want you to go up and change into your pajamas."

"Okay," Abby said and trudged out of the room towards the stairs. She couldn't remember the last time she felt this bad and just the simple exertion of climbing the steps left her breathless. She slogged down to her room, changed into her pajamas, grabbed her pillow and then slowly made her way back down to the first floor. Once she got to the great room, she found her mother and grandmother waiting for her, and her mother was holding the dreaded cold medicine.

"No way, uh uh, I don't want it!" Abby said petulantly, looking at the liquid cold medicine.

JJ sighed, "You need it Abby and you know it'll make you feel better. Please take it like the adult you almost are; let's NOT have a repeat of last time."

Abby reddened slightly when she thought back to the last time she had to take the vile medicine. Her father literally had to hold her down with her arms behind her back while her mother pinched her nose to get her to open her mouth. Once she opened her mouth to breathe, her mom had poured the medicine in and then held her hand over her mouth so she wouldn't spit it out. All in all, Abby had felt like a two year old, when in reality she'd been sixteen.

"But mooommmmm," she whined, "It's disgusting!"

"I don't care, you need it and it will help you. Do we need to call your father down here? Do you really want your grandmother to witness that?"

"No," Abby grumbled, accepting the medicine cup from her mother. She stared at the evil liquid for a moment and then quickly swallowed the dose, making a face as she did so. "Yuck!" She exclaimed, handing the cup back to her mom.

"Okay honey, why don't you lay down until your father comes down here?" JJ suggested. "Your grandma and I will be in the kitchen."

"'Kay mom," Abby said, as she settled into the sofa. Marie covered her with one of the throw blankets, kissed her forehead again and then left the room so she could rest.


	83. Chapter 83

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 83

**~This is probably the last post until the weekend. School is killing me right now, and I need to finish a couple of papers by Friday. **

**~Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last couple of chapters!**

* * *

Half an hour later, Dave exited the master bedroom and made his way down to the first floor of the cabin. He felt much cleaner and he was sure he smelled better too. As he stepped off of the staircase, he peeked into the great room and saw his daughter asleep on one of the couches. He was about to go in and wake her so they could talk, but JJ had heard him come down the stairs and stopped him.

"She's sick," she whispered. "Don't wake her, she needs to sleep."

Dave nodded and sat down in the easy chair next to the sofa that Abby was sleeping on. JJ left the room and Dave just watched his daughter as she slept a fitful sleep. She was dressed in a tank top and sweatpants and he could tell she was feverish by the way she would kick off the covers and then start to shiver. As soon as she started to shiver, Dave would get up and pull the covers back over her, only to have her kick them back off ten minutes later. One of the times he pulled the covers over her, he saw lines of small bruises on her upper arms and he realized the marks were from his fingers when he gripped her before he threw her. He felt physically sick when he saw them, but he couldn't leave the room, because at that moment she began whimpering in her sleep. He waited for a full fledged nightmare to follow, like they had in the past, but to his surprise the whimpering stopped and she relaxed.

He watched her sleep for over two hours before a coughing fit finally woke her up. As she sat up to catch her breath, she saw her father sitting in the chair next to her. "Hey dad," she said breathlessly

"Hi Pumpkin, how are you?" He asked.

"Ugh, I feel like crap! I didn't think it was possible to ache this badly," she said as she reached for some Kleenex.

"Are you sure some of the achiness isn't from last night?" He asked worriedly. "Maybe we should get Peter back here."

"This isn't from last night, dad, it's just my cold," she told him and then took his hand, "I really _am _fine from last night. You shouldn't feel bad about it, it wasn't your fault."

"I _do_ feel bad though, Abby," he told her. "I hurt you honey, and I'm so sorry! I never would have done it if I'd been awake." He was near tears by this point and he was surprised when his daughter gripped his hand tighter.

"I know that, dad! I know you would never purposely hurt me, I know it was because of your nightmare, and I get it. I understand what it's like to be so terrified by your dream that you can't tell what's real and what's not! You _don't_ have to feel bad about last night."

"I can't help it honey, all I do is see you lying there next to the table in a daze…you've had so much happen to you lately, I feel horrible that I added to it."

Abby sighed, "Did you like it?" She asked him. "Did you feel powerful hurting me? Did you think I deserved it?"

"What? NO! Of course not, it was an accident!" Dave was horrified at the very idea of getting any satisfaction out of hurting her.

"Exactly, it was an accident, dad! Would you feel this bad if you'd bumped into me on the stairs and I'd fallen? You need to get over this, because I already have," she told him, beginning to get frustrated with his guilt.

"I'm getting help, Pumpkin. I'm going to talk to Dr. Kendall on Monday and I'm going to have her recommend someone for me. I would rather die than _ever _hurt you again!" He told her.

"I'm glad you're getting help dad, I know that Dr. Kendall is really helping me and I hope she sends you to someone equally as good." Abby was relieved to hear that her father would be talking to someone. She knew how horrible the nightmares could get and she hated that her dad was going through them.

"_I'm _glad you're not holding this whole thing against me," he said as he leaned over to kiss her forehead, which felt unnaturally warm. He would always feel guilty about what had happened, but it helped that she wasn't blaming him for it. "I'm going to go see if I can get your grandmother to make you some of her world famous chicken noodle soup," he said as he moved to stand up. He was halfway to his feet when he seemed to remember something. Sitting back down, he pulled her car keys out of his pocket. "Here," he said as he handed them to her.

"What's this?" She asked, confused.

"Your car keys, you're off of all of your restrictions," he told her. He'd expected her to dance with joy and he was confused to see her staring at the keys with a puzzled look on her face. "What's the problem, Pumpkin?"

"Are you doing this because you feel bad about last night, or are you doing it because you finally trust me again?" She asked.

"Does it matter? You're getting what you wanted, you're getting your freedom back," he said.

"It _does _matter! I don't want you to give my car back out of some misguided feeling of guilt; I want to know that you finally trust me again, that I've proven myself to both you and mom."

Dave sighed, "A small part of it is because of last night, but we _do_ trust you, Abby. I should have let you off of your restrictions a long time ago, but my own fears about your safety prevented me from doing so. It's been nearly six weeks since you snuck out and in that time you've done everything your mother and I have asked you to, you've followed our rules and you've behaved well. You've proven yourself to us and it's time for us to let you go." Now he got the smile he was hoping for as Abby leaned over and threw her arms around him.

"Thanks dad!" She exclaimed, pulling out of the hug. "I've gotta call Jack and Becca, maybe they're still around tonight and we can go out!"

"Whoa, no way!" He said, shaking his head. He went from feeling guilty to feeling fiercely over protective. "You're not going anywhere tonight!"

"But you just ended my restriction!"

Dave nodded, "I know I did, but you're sick! There's no way you're leaving this house for the next thirty-six hours."

"But daaaaddddd," Abby whined, "I'm fine, I feel much better."

Dave could tell she was lying through her teeth. Her breathing was raspy, she was practically coughing up a lung, her nose was running, her eyes were glassy with fever and he could tell by the way she was playing with her hair that she had a headache. "Okay Pumpkin, let's grab the thermometer; if you don't have a fever, I won't stand in your way of going out."

Abby sat back down, she knew she had a fever and she knew her dad's over protection went into overdrive when she was sick. "Never mind," she mumbled as she wrapped the blanket around herself again.

"That's what I thought," Dave said, smiling to himself. "How about I go get you that soup and then we can watch a movie, I'll even let you pick which one," he said, bracing himself for an inane comedy.

"I have a cold, not the stomach flu, I can eat dinner with the rest of you," she grumbled, not wanting to miss out on her grandmother's cooking.

Dave knew his daughter's disposition could change fairly quickly, it was part of being a teenage girl, but he was always astounded by the way her mood could change in an instant when she was sick. It was like living with Sybil. "Okay, but we'd better get some cold medicine into you before dinner," he said, dreading the upcoming ordeal. He wondered if he would have to handcuff her this time. He wasn't surprised to see Abby frantically shaking her head.

"No! I already took some; mom gave it to me earlier!" The absolute LAST thing Abby wanted was more of that horrible liquid. Just thinking about it made her nauseous.

Dave looked at her skeptically, "Sure Abby, why don't you go ahead and pull the other leg."

"I'm serious; I took some before my nap!"

"Pumpkin, the last time you were sick, we had to physically restrain you in order to get the medicine in you. You really expect me to believe that you willingly took it this time?"

"She did Dave, it was the damnedest thing!" JJ said, as she entered the room.

He was astonished, "How'd you get her to do it?"

JJ shrugged, "Shame. She didn't want your mother to witness her juvenile antics, so she took the medicine willingly."

"You know, you don't have to talk about me like I'm a two year old; I'm not _that _bad when I have to take my medicine." Both of her parents just stared at her. "Whatever," Abby said as she shakily rose from the sofa. Dave gripped her arm and helped her up. Once in a standing position, a wave of dizziness overtook her and she unwillingly sat back down again, coughing hard as she did so.

"That's it, we're going to the ER," he told her.

"What?" She said looking up at him, "No! No way! I'm not going to the ER for a cold!"

"Dave, don't you think that's a bit extreme?" JJ asked, siding with her daughter. "I know she sounds horrible, but it's just a cold."

"Besides, I saw a doctor just last night and I'm NOT seeing another one!" She said defiantly as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"You're sick, Pumpkin, you need to be treated."

"Let's take her temperature; if it's over 103 degrees, then we'll take her to the ER, but if it's under that, then we stay here, okay?" JJ tried negotiating.

"If it's over a hundred she's going to the ER," Dave countered. Both JJ and Abby shook their heads.

"Pete always told me that it's not serious unless her temp is over 103," JJ maintained.

"102. If her temp is over 102, then she sees a doctor; that's my final offer," Dave said.

JJ thought about it and then nodded, "Your terms are acceptable."

"Hey!" Abby called from the sofa, as her mother went to the bathroom to get the thermometer, "Don't _I_ get a say?" She asked haughtily.

Dave shook his head, "Nope, sorry."

"You realize I _am_ almost legally an adult, right?"

"Doesn't matter," her dad told her, "I don't care if you're forty-eight, I'll always react badly when you're sick."

JJ returned with the thermometer and placed it in Abby's ear. It beeped within a few seconds and she stared at the number as she withdrew it. "101.6," she declared, showing them the result.

"You got lucky," Dave told his daughter, "But we'll take it again later."

"Looking forward to it," she mumbled, once again struggling to get to her feet. JJ, who was closest to her, helped her up. Once she was in a standing position, Abby felt her mother wrap her arm around her waist and guide her into the kitchen. Personally, she thought her parents were making WAY too big a deal out of things, she had a cold but they were treating her as if she was dying or something.

"There you are!" Marie exclaimed as the three of them entered the kitchen, "Did you get lost between here and the great room?"

"No, mom and dad were busy with the 'great ER debate.' Thankfully mom won the argument, so dad isn't dragging me to the hospital," Abby said as she sat down at the table.

"It's just a cold, Davie," Marie said. "Why would you take her to the hospital on a Saturday night for that?" As if on cue, Abby started coughing harshly, a fit that seemed to last forever in Dave's mind.

"I'm fine," she reassured him as he joined her at the table. JJ and Marie carried the food over to the table and soon they were all too busy eating to give much thought to Abby's health.

"Mmm, this is really good, Nonna, but the sauce tastes a little different. Is it just me, or did you alter the recipe?" Abby asked, wondering if her cold was playing tricks on her taste buds.

"You're right, I changed the recipe a little. I used fresh parsley instead of-" She stopped abruptly when she saw that her son was hanging on her every word. "I'll email you the recipe," she told her granddaughter, not wanting to give any part of it to anyone else.

Dave looked disappointed at not getting part of his mother's closely guarded tomato sauce recipe, but he let it go as he moved on to what was sure to be a touchy subject. "You're birthday's coming up soon, Pumpkin. Have you given any thought as to what you want to do for it?"

"I really haven't," she said. "With everything that's gone on lately, I've just been trying to get back into the swing of things with school and stuff."

"Well, your mother and I had an idea," Dave said hesitantly, wondering how it would go down with their daughter.

"Okaaaayyyy," Abby said, interpreting her father's body language correctly. If he was tentatively bringing something up, it had to be a doozy.

Her dad took a deep breath and plunged ahead, "We want to take you to New York for your birthday weekend."

"What?" Abby asked incredulously. Seeing that her parents were serious, she shook her head, which set off a wave of dizziness. "No way!"

"Abby-" Dave began, but she wouldn't let him speak.

"No! I don't _ever_ want to go back to that city again! I didn't like it before everything happened and I sure as HELL don't like it now!"

"Sweetie," JJ said, "You live on the east coast and you're going to go to college on the east coast. Chances are you'll have to go to New York again, whether for school or work. Your dad and I want to take you there for your birthday so we can replace your bad memories with good ones. At the very least, we want to show you that the city isn't a total hellhole."

Abby could feel her grandmother's eyes boring into her when her mother mentioned her going to school on the east coast and she purposely avoided eye contact with the older woman. "I don't know mom," she said, "I'd kinda hoped to stay around DC for my birthday."

"This is important to us, Abby," Dave said. "We don't want you to be afraid of the place, we want you to face some of your fears. I think this could be beneficial for you."

"Can I think about it for a little while?" She asked.

Dave nodded, "If you agree to go, we'll need a week's notice so we can sort out airline tickets, hotel reservations and play tickets, so we'll need to know by this coming Friday, okay?"

"Okay," she agreed and then resumed eating. After that, Marie began filling them in on some of the family gossip, and Abby tried valiantly to stay awake, but between the medicine she'd taken for her cold, and the sickness itself, she felt herself nodding off at the dinner table.

After a few minutes, JJ saw that Abby was nearly asleep. "Dave," she said, nudging him with her elbow. The three adults looked at Abby with smiles on their faces; she might be less than two weeks away from being a full-fledged adult, but at the moment she looked as though she was about five years old.

Dave pushed his chair back and came around the table to her. "Come on Abby, time for bed," he said, shaking her a little in order to wake her up.

"But I'm not tired," she mumbled as she got to her feet. Once she was in a standing position, Dave scooped her into his arms. "I can walk," she protested sleepily, but there wasn't any force behind her words. After everything that had happened over the past two months, her dad's arms still made her feel safe, and if he wanted to carry her to her room, she'd let him.

"'Night mom, 'night Nonna," she said softly, nearly asleep again.

"Goodnight Little One, sleep tight," Marie said gently.

"'Night honey, feel better in the morning," JJ told her.

Dave carried her gently up the stairs, so as not to wake her, and then deposited her onto her bed. He debated pulling the covers over her, as she still had a fever, but he could see she was shivering, so he tucked her in. Once she was settled, he sat in the lounge chair near her bed and watched her sleep for a little while. He would always feel bad about physically harming her, and every time he saw the bruises on her arms, he died a little inside, but he was deeply grateful to the powers that be that she didn't hate him. As he watched her sleep, he also began to doze a little and that's how JJ found them an hour later.


	84. Chapter 84

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 84

**~I'm finally back! After dealing with writing end of semester papers, grading and a bout of the flu, I finally have time to write again. That being said, my postings will probably still be fairly sporadic (although I'm hoping it won't take me another week to update) because I'm working on my story for the Gift Exchange and I'll be traveling home for the holidays in the next few days.**

* * *

Dave looked up from the coffee he'd poured and watched as his daughter entered the kitchen. He narrowed his eyes as she rummaged around in the fridge for something to eat; something was off with her and he was fairly certain he knew what it was.

"How are you feeling this morning, Pumpkin?" He asked. She'd spent the weekend in bed with what she swore was a cold and he knew she still felt like shit. Getting her to admit that, however, would be a miracle of epic proportions.

"I feel fine, great in fact," she said brightly, a little _too_ brightly for seven o'clock on a Monday morning.

"Well that's good," Dave said as she turned around. Once she was facing him, he could instantly tell that his instincts were correct; her eyes were still glassy from the fever, she was pale as a ghost, her eyes were bloodshot and he could see her hands shaking as she poured herself a glass of water.

"Yeah, it sure is!" She chirped. 'Cool it Abby,' she said to herself, 'He's an FBI agent, remember? He's trained to scope out unusual behavior, and perkiness at this God awful hour of the morning is _definitely _unusual.' Lifting the glass of water to her lips, she tried not to wince as the cool liquid made its way over her very sore throat.

"How are you really feeling?" Dave asked, watching her face scrunch in pain as she drank her water.

Abby never dropped her cheerful demeanor, "I'm fine dad, really," she reassured him. If she let him know just how badly she was feeling, he would make her stay home from school and there was no WAY she was going to let that happen since they would be announcing the valedictorian any day now. With all of the school she'd missed the past couple of months; she knew she had to put in some serious face time with her teachers so they would remember just how dedicated she was to her academics.

Knowing she wouldn't willingly 'fess up to being sicker than a dog, Dave just nodded. "Okay," he said as he filled a mug with hot coffee. "Drink your coffee without wincing and I won't ask you about it again."

"Thanks dad, but I'm not in the mood for coffee today."

He snorted, "Now I _know_ you're sick, you _always _want a steaming cup of coffee in the morning!"

"Fine, I'll drink it!" She snipped, her sunny attitude slipping a little. She picked up the mug, held the cup of hot brew to her lips and tried not to think about what she was doing; she knew if she gave any indication of pain, the jig would be up. Taking a large draw of the hot liquid, she felt it hit her gums and tongue and then slide back to her throat. She maintained a neutral expression for about two seconds and then all bets were off. She clutched at her throat and moaned as the coffee rolled over it. "Gah!" She exclaimed; it felt like she had taken a swig of battery acid.

"That's what I thought," Dave said, as he poured her another glass of cold water. Watching her wince again as she drank the cool liquid, he declared, "You're staying home today."

"Dad, no!" She whined, "I _have_ to go to school, I've missed way too much as it is!"

He shook his head, "You're still sick, Abby."

"I'm _not_," she insisted as she shook her blonde head, "I just have a little bit of a sore throat!"

"_No,_ you're sick, you look like shit."

"Well thanks a lot," she huffed. "I can't tell you how much it boosts my self esteem to hear my father tell me I look like shit."

Dave sighed, "You _know_ what I mean," he told her as they both stared at each other, neither one of them willing to back down.

JJ chose that moment to enter the kitchen. She saw her husband and daughter facing each other down, and she was filled with a longing to leave the room.

"Ah, Jen, you're just in time. Would you hand me the thermometer?" Dave asked as he maintained eye contact with their daughter.

JJ picked it up from the counter next to her. "Here you go," she said as she passed it to him.

Dave advanced on Abby, who backed away. "Come on dad, I really am fine," she insisted, lying through her teeth. She knew if he got that thermometer anywhere near her ear, she would be stuck at the cabin for the rest of the day.

"Do you want me to have your mother hold you down for this?" He asked, "Because we know she'll do it."

"No," Abby sighed in defeat as she presented her right ear to him. A few seconds later she heard the familiar beep of the thermometer. "102.4," he announced. "Not only are you not going to school today, but we're taking a trip to the doctor's office."

"Oh no," she argued futilely as she watched her mother scroll through the contacts list in her cell phone. Before she could protest any more, her mom was talking to the nurse and setting up an appointment for her.

"You go in at ten," she told her as she ended the call. "I'll call Hotch and tell him I won't be in today."

Dave shook his head, "No, I don't want you to have to push back your sabbatical any further," he told her. "You're already working longer than the one week we agreed upon. You go to work and I'll take Abby to the doctor."

"Okay," JJ agreed, relieved that she would have a day free of her husband at work. She knew she would get much more done with him out of the office.

Dave turned toward Abby, "Why don't you go back to bed? I'll wake you when it's time to leave."

"I'm already dressed and I have my hair done; I'm not going to ruin that before we go," she grumbled under her breath, dropping half of a bagel into the toaster. "Not that I should be going to the doctor in the first place, since I'm fine!"

Seeing the look on her husband's face, JJ had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing; if there was one person on the planet who was more whiny than their daughter when they were sick, it was him. The last time he'd been sick, it was with a stomach virus and by the time he was better, he'd nearly been homeless because she had considered kicking him out more than once. It was somewhat gratifying to see him get his comeuppance.

Taking one last drink of her coffee, JJ kissed Dave goodbye, grabbed her purse and keys and headed for the door. "I'll be home by six tonight," she told him.

"Five," Dave said firmly, "Our deal was you would leave the BAU by four-thirty every day, so you should be able to make it back by five.

"Fine, five," JJ agreed and then stepped into the garage. As she drove down the driveway she wondered if, between her sick daughter and her over protective husband, the house would be standing when she got home.

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Three hours later, Dave found himself sitting in the waiting room of his daughter's pediatrician. Abby had finally given in and admitted she was feeling sick, but it had been a hard won battle filled with lies and arguments. In the end though, he hadn't had to handcuff her to himself to get her to the doctor's office, and he knew that was just short of a miracle.

Currently, Abby was sitting next to him and she was resting her feverish head against his shoulder. As whiny and immature as she was when she was sick, Dave felt bad for her and he wished he could make it all better for her.

"Abby?" The nurse called out from the doorway. Both Dave and Abby rose from their chairs and Abby put a hand up to stop her father from following her.

"I'm almost eighteen dad, I don't need company."

Dave shook his head, "If I let you go back there by yourself, you'll lowball how you're feeling. I want to make sure the doctor gets an accurate picture of this past weekend."

"Fine," Abby said, giving in. Dave was surprised she'd given in so easily; he'd expected a little more argument from her.

They followed the nurse back to the small exam room, where she took Abby's vital signs and chatted with the girl about her upcoming graduation. Dave half-paid attention, only interrupting when he saw the nurse frown.

"What's wrong?" He asked. He'd accompanied his daughter to the doctor's office a few times, and he knew the medical staff and he didn't like the look on the nurse's face as she wrote down Abby's vital signs.

"Nothing's wrong Mr. Rossi," the nurse said, "Abby's pulse is a little high, but that's to be expected in someone as sick as she is." After asking a few more questions, the nurse left the room and the doctor entered five minutes later.

"Hello Abby, Dave," Dr. Heston greeted. He had been Abby's doctor ever since she and JJ had moved to Washington so he knew them fairly well and, since he'd become Abby's primary caregiver over the past two years, he'd gotten to know Dave as well. "What seems to be the problem?" He asked as he sat down at the computer.

"Nothing's wrong, I just have a cold and a sore throat and dad blew it WAY out of proportion!" Abby told him, some of her attitude from that morning returning.

Dave shot her a look, "That's _not _what happened. Since Friday she's been achy, she's had a cough, a sore throat and a fever and she's had no energy."

Looking through the electronic file, Dr. Heston said, "I see that her fever is 102.6. Has it been that high all weekend?"

"No," Abby said quickly.

Dave rolled his eyes, "It hasn't been that high, but it's been close. It's been hovering in the 101 range for the past few days."

"Okay Abby, hop up on the table and let's take a look at you," Dr. Heston commanded. Abby got on the table and winced as the doctor put the cold stethoscope on her back. He listened to her breathing, looked in her ears, nose and throat and felt her neck before he stepped back and reached for a large Q-tip. "I suspect you have strep throat and I'll do a rapid test just to be sure," he told her as he swabbed the back of her throat. He left the room with sample as Abby moved back to the chair and tried not to gag. Honestly, it felt like the swab had hit her stomach!

She dozed against her dad's shoulder for another twenty minutes before the doctor returned. This time he was holding a couple of sheets of paper and a hypodermic needle. "Okay Abby," he said, "It looks like you have a nasty case of strep throat. I'm going to give you a shot of antibiotics jump start your recovery and I'm also going to prescribe a course of treatment for you. You should begin to feel better in a couple of days."

"Strep?" Dave said at the same time as Abby said, "Shot?"

"Yes, strep throat. I assure you Dave, it's not too serious. Abby will need to remain home until she's been on antibiotics for 24 hours, so she won't be able to return to school until Wednesday, but she should start feeling better fairly soon. Until then, she can take cold medicine throughout the day in order to alleviate some of the achiness and fever."

"No! No, no, no," Abby said, shaking her head, "There's no way I'm missing another day of school! And a shot? Uh-uh, just give me the pills and I'll be fine."

"Abby roll up your sleeve and let the doctor give you the shot," Dave ordered, "It will help make you better faster."

"Your dad's right, Abby," Dr. Heston said, "If I don't give you the shot, you risk missing even more school."

"Fine," Abby said with a huff as she rolled up her sleeve, "The last time I got a shot of antibiotics, I slept for fourteen hours," she said, alluding to their time in New York.

"Don't tempt me _this_ time," Dave muttered as she gripped his hand.

Ten minutes later, they were on their way home and Abby was asleep in the front seat. 'Hopefully she'll sleep for the rest of today and tomorrow,' Dave thought happily as the SUV ate up the highway.

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The following evening, JJ walked into the cabin after her last day of work before her sabbatical. Well, that wasn't technically true since she knew she'd have to go in a couple of times for follow-up items with the camera crew, but she knew there was no sense in telling her husband about that ahead of time, so she kept that little nugget of information to herself. Straining her ears as she walked into the kitchen, she was surprised to hear silence reigning throughout the house. The previous day, she'd arrived home to find her husband and her daughter arguing as to whether she was well enough to be out of her bed. Then, they'd continued sniping at each other throughout the night until JJ had finally sent Abby to bed early, both as a way for her to rest so she could get better and because she was getting on both of her parents last nerves. After she'd gone to bed, Dave had poured himself a healthy amount of scotch while recounting his day with the sick teen. JJ hoped it had gone better today.

She made her way through the kitchen and into the great room, where she found Abby asleep on the sofa with her head resting on a pillow that was propped up against Dave's lap. Dave was watching a baseball game on low volume and hadn't heard her come into the house.

"I'm ho-" JJ started to say before she was rudely interrupted by her husband.

"Sweet Jesus, woman, lower your voice!" He hissed. "Do you want her to wake up?" Dave looked down at his sleeping daughter and fervently prayed that she would stay asleep. God took pity on him because, other than a small stirring, Abby remained down for the count.

"Rough day?" JJ asked in a whisper, as she sat down in the easy chair across from them.

"You have no idea," Dave whispered tiredly. "First, we had another argument over her going to school today. She was actually willing to wear a surgical mask in order to go to her classes today! Where the hell did that come from, Jen? When I was a kid, I did everything to _avoid_ going to school and here I have a daughter who tries to con us into _letting _her go? I don't get it!"

"What can I say Dave? She's a type A personality and we both know she got that from the two of us."

Dave just shook his head, "Then, after I forced her back up to her bedroom, she slept for awhile and then woke up and wanted to soak in the Jacuzzi. When I explained to her that a soak in the hot tub would raise her fever again, she threw a tantrum! When exactly did our mature, nearly eighteen year old daughter turn into a five year old?"

"She's sick, honey. She doesn't feel well, everything hurts and she's being kept away from everything and everyone she likes. You can't expect her to take that well," she told him, before muttering, "And we both know where she gets _that_ from."

Dave shot her a glare but ignored her last statement, partly because he didn't want to do anything that would wake his daughter up and partly because he knew she was right, he was a bear when he was sick. "After that, she somehow guilted me into running into town to get her a burger from Five Guys, and when I got back, I found her running on the treadmill in the gym! Needless to say, that didn't go over well and we ate lunch in relative silence," he told her. "Then, after lunch, I started feeling bad about yelling at my sick daughter, so I let her pick which movie we would watch together and she chose _Shaun of the Dead_!" He said, shuddering. "I didn't know it was possible to make put low-brow comedy and zombies in the same movie, but somehow Hollywood did it."

"She _loves _that movie and she usually laughs like a loon the entire way through it. How did you manage to get her to fall asleep?" JJ asked.

"Um, I might have given her the nighttime cold medicine instead of her daytime stuff," Dave admitted sheepishly.

"You DRUGGED her?" JJ said loudly.

"Good God JJ, seriously, shut up! If she wakes up, she's _your _responsibility!" Dave told her. "Yes, I drugged her, okay? It's not my proudest moment as a father, but it was either that or I would have ended up locking her in her bedroom for the rest of the day, and since she's still struggling with PTSD from the attacks, I figured that would be a poor course of action."

"You think?" JJ asked sarcastically, but she wasn't really angry with her husband since she knew how her daughter could be when she was sick, especially at the tail end of an illness when she began feeling better.

Dave was about to answer when he looked down and saw Abby stirring. He sighed as he saw her eyes open and she looked around.

"Hi honey," JJ greeted, "How are you feeling?"

Abby sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Better; dad's been shoving pills down my throat at regular intervals and they must actually be helping."

"I'm glad to hear it," JJ said amused. As much as she felt for her husband, she also felt sympathy for her daughter as she remembered Dave's overbearing attitude while she was recovering from her gunshot wound.

"I'm glad you're home, I wanted to talk to you and dad about my birthday," she said as she yawned.

"What about it, Pumpkin?" Dave asked, thinking she was going to turn down their offer of New York City.

"I've been thinking about it and I want to go back to New York," she told them, sounding a bit unsure.

"Really?" JJ asked, surprised. She too had thought that Abby would decline the trip.

Abby nodded, "I'm tired of being scared all of the time and I want to begin putting some of those fears behind me and you're right, chances are good that I'll have to go to New York sometime in my life and I don't want to be terrified of the place."

"Well, okay," JJ said, still surprised, "I'll start making the travel arrangements."

"You're sure about this, Pumpkin?" Dave asked. He wanted her to face her fears, but he didn't want to ruin her birthday weekend.

Abby nodded, "I'm sure," she said.

"Great," JJ said, standing up. "How about I send out for pizza tonight?" She got nods from both her husband and daughter. "While I do that, why don't you take a cool shower, Abby? It might make you feel even better."

The teen nodded agreeably, "Okay mom," she said and then got up from the sofa and went up the stairs with no argument.

"What was so hard about that?" JJ asked her husband, trying to hold back her laughter. Dave watched his retreating daughter in open mouthed astonishment.

"I-what-how?" He was struck speechless for a moment. "All day she's been fighting me at every turn! How in the _hell_ did you do that?"

"I don't know, Dave, it must be a mom thing," JJ said amusedly as they walked towards the kitchen.

Dave shook his head in amazement, "You win, I admit defeat," he told her. "The next time she's sick, you can deal with her."

JJ grinned, "Who would have thought that an ill, seventeen year old girl could bring the great David Rossi to his knees?"


	85. Chapter 86

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 86

**~I would like to thank everyone for your kind words. It's been a rough couple of weeks for me both travelling to the funeral and attempting to get back home. That being said, the writing in this chapter (and the next, which is mostly written) is...off. I wrote it in snippets while waiting in numerous airport terminals trying to get onto various flights. I should have known that trying to fly standby to get home to Las Vegas on December 30 and 31 would be a wasted effort, but I tried. Anyway, I'm home and I'm still on winter break, so I'm hoping to update this story more regularly.**

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"Maybe this isn't such a good idea," Abby said a week and a half later as they made their way to the airport terminal. "Maybe we should just go back home; I can celebrate my birthday here in DC." Now that she was getting closer to going back to the city she associated with so much grief, Abby was beginning to have second thoughts about returning.

"Abby, honey, I promise it will be okay," JJ said as they stood outside the men's room and waited for Dave. "If you're still feeling uncomfortable about it tomorrow, we can leave, but please just give it a chance, okay?"

"'Kay," Abby agreed softly. She knew she was going to have to break the news about UC Berkeley to her parents fairly soon and she figured that if she went along with them on this, it would build up some goodwill with them. Not that they still wouldn't kill her, but she hoped that with enough goodwill built up they might at least let her explain why she was considering moving three thousand miles away before they kill her.

While she wanted to build up some credit with her parents, she didn't realize she would be so nervous about returning to New York. All she thought about as they were waiting for her dad, was the last time she waited in this airport for a flight to the city it had been right after her parents were shot and she was waiting to hear whether both of them would live. Just standing there brought back the panicky feeling and she began to breathe faster than normal.

JJ, seeing the look of panic growing on her daughter's face, put her arm around her shoulders. "Deep breaths, Abby," she said, wondering if they should just call the whole thing off. Before she could say anything though, Dave finally emerged from the bathroom.

"We're going to have to hurry to make the shuttle," he told them, as if it was their fault they were running late and not the three cups of coffee he'd had before leaving the house that morning. He started down the corridor at a brisk pace while JJ exchanged a look with her daughter, who nodded, and the two of them followed along behind him. When they got to their gate, JJ pulled their boarding passes out of her purse and they got into the line with the last remaining stragglers.

"I can't believe we have to sit in coach like cattle," Dave grumbled.

"It's a shuttle, Dave, they don't have different classes, it's all one big coach plane," JJ said as they slowly made their way to the front of the line.

"I still don't see why they can't have a first class, I'll bet lots of people would be willing to pay for a little extra comfort during their commute," he whined and then came dangerously close to pouting. Abby, who had been trying not to freak out at the prospect of returning to the one city on the planet that she hated with an absolute passion, smiled slightly. Her smile grew a little as she heard her mother's retort.

"Suck it up, Rossi!" She ordered, "It's an hour flight and I don't want to hear any more whining from you, capisce?" JJ felt like she was talking to a small child, but she knew how her picky husband could get when things didn't go his way.

"That sounded like a threat Jen, you gonna follow up on it?" He said petulantly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Glancing at their daughter, who was busy checking her email on her phone, JJ stood on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, "If you make this difficult on me _or_ our traumatized daughter, then you can forget about any fun you were looking forward to having in our bedroom this weekend. Especially the kind of fun we have once Abby's asleep."

The pouty look immediately vanished from Dave's face, "Got it JJ. Only fun, happy-go-lucky Dave will be here from now on," he promised and JJ snorted. Happy-go-lucky? That would be the day! Still, she'd take what she could get from him at that point.

They finally made their way to the front of the line and then onto the jet way, where there was a wait as everyone who was in the plane put their bags in the overhead bins. The Rossi family finally made it onto the plane and Dave directed Abby in first, since she was sitting in the window seat. Silently cursing her mother for reserving seats in the back of the plane, Abby slowly made her way down the aisle. She stopped in shock as she saw Becca and Jack sitting in the row across from them.

"What? What are you guys doing here?" She asked, confused.

"We're going to New York with you!" Becca told her as she jumped out of her seat to give her a hug. "There's no better way to spend your long birthday weekend!" The three teens had the day off for a teacher's convention, so they were making the most of it by leaving on a Friday and coming back that Sunday.

Still stunned, Abby turned and faced her parents who had taken their seats by that time. "You really think we'd make you celebrate your birthday in a city you hate with just us?" JJ asked smiling. "You should have your friends with you. Besides, they'll be able to help you make new memories of New York."

Feeling some of her faculties returning to her, Abby bent down and hugged her mom, "Oh my God! Thanks mom, this means a lot to me."

"Hey," Dave protested good naturedly, "I helped with this whole thing, don't I get a hug?" Abby leaned over her mother and gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek, "That's better," he said as he released her. He watched as she took a seat between Jack and Becca and the whole way to New York, the kids talked about the upcoming weekend.

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"Okay, we're in room 1856," JJ said, handing keys out to everyone. Upon landing in New York, Dave had further surprised Abby and her friends by arranging for a limo to pick them up at the airport. The kids had ooohed and aaaahhhed over the luxurious ride, and it was a wild time in the car with the teens switching seats and trying out all of the bells and whistles. Dave had finally put the kibosh on things when they'd opened the sunroof and JJ and Abby had stuck their heads out of it. As he'd pulled them back down into the limo, he choked on his fear of them being beheaded by something. He'd snapped at JJ and reminded her that she wasn't a teenager anymore and had gotten laughter in return.

Once they all had their keys, the five of them, plus the bellhop with a full luggage cart, piled into the elevator and rode it to the eighteenth floor. After a short trip down the hallway, Dave opened the door and the three teenagers ran into the room.

"Check out the flat screen TV!" Jack exclaimed as he dashed into the living room.

"How about the bathroom? You can practically _swim_ in the whirlpool tub! Plus it also has a TV!" Becca said, coming out of the large room.

"There's only one bedroom?" Abby asked confused, how was that going to work?

Dave was wondering the same thing when he saw his wife shake her blonde head, "No, there are two," she said as she brought the group into the large bedroom. She went to a door on the opposite side of the room, slid her key card into the slot and opened it up. Once opened, they all saw that it lead to another regular hotel room.

"The suite bedroom connects with this room, so I rented it to give us both another bedroom and bathroom," she told them. "Our room keys work in the front door to the suite, this door and the front door to this room."

"Okay, so Jack and I will crash in here while you three sleep in the suite?" Dave asked, resigned to the fact that he and JJ wouldn't get to do any of the fun things they'd had planned.

JJ shook her head, "I thought the three kids could sleep in here and you and I would take the bedroom in the suite."

"I don't think so," Dave said forcefully.

"Jack and I have slept in the same room many times, what's the problem?" Abby asked.

"The problem _is_," Dave said, as though it should be obvious, "you weren't dating him when you shared a room before, you are now."

Abby smiled, "Do you really think I'm going to ravish him with Becca here? And with you and mom in the next room?"

"Abby, you don't want me to imagine what you both could do in this room, because if I do, you're grounded."

Abby frowned and was about to say something else but JJ jumped in, "Seriously Dave, I trust the kids and I know they won't do anything stupid. Plus, I talked to both Hotch and Becca's mom before we left and they're both fine with the sleeping arrangements." She remembered the promise that Abby had made to her about talking with her if she was considering having sex. Since they had yet to have that discussion, she knew Abby wasn't to that point in her relationship with Jack...yet. Besides, she knew the two kids wouldn't do anything while sharing a room with Becca.

"Okay," Dave said resigned. Deep down he also knew his daughter wouldn't do anything too serious with Jack, especially with Becca in the same room, but he was a dad and it was his job to worry about things like that. "Why don't we all unpack and then meet in the living room in half an hour?"

Everyone agreed and left to unpack in their respective rooms. Exactly thirty minutes later they convened in the living room and planned the rest of the day. Between the travelling and unpacking, it was mid-afternoon and they had tickets to a Broadway musical that night, so whatever they did was going to have to be close by. Everyone finally agreed that due to the gorgeous spring weather, exploring Central Park would be their best bet and they started off on foot to the giant green space.

After Central Park, they all came back to the hotel, took turns in the two showers and got ready to see _South Pacific_ on Broadway. It was a great show and they all enthusiastically reviewed it over a late dinner. Afterwards, they all crammed into a cab and took it back to the hotel. Once there, JJ and Dave bid goodnight to the kids and shut themselves off in their bedroom.

"You know that what Abby said works in reverse, don't you?" JJ asked him as she removed her jewelry.

"What are you talking about?" Dave asked as he unbuttoned his shirt.

"I didn't know their bedroom would connect with ours when I promised you some excitement for the weekend; I thought their room would connect to the living room. There's no way that _we_ can do anything in here as long as we're next door to the kids. Plus, their key cards can also get into this room."

"Dammit!" Dave exclaimed, "I hadn't thought about that."

"Sorry honey," JJ said amused, "Want me to run you a cold shower?"

"Very funny Jen," he growled as he pulled her into his arms. "Don't worry; we'll get them away from here for an hour somehow tomorrow."

"Good luck with that," She told him, "Tomorrow is Abby's birthday and I want to spend as much time as possible with her." She paused. "You realize this is the last night she'll technically be a child? Tomorrow she is a full-fledged adult, at least in the eyes of society and the law."

"I know," he said, "How is it possible that we have an eighteen year old daughter? It seems like just yesterday I was visiting you in the dorms and soon _she'll _be at Georgetown. It boggles my mind." He pulled her closer to him and crashed his lips against hers. Without thinking, they deepened the kiss and he was reaching to lift her shirt when she stopped him.

"What are you doing Dave? Didn't we _just_ talk about this?" JJ asked, trying to get her own raging libido under control; stopping him had been difficult because while her mind was saying no, her body was screaming yes.

"The kids are happy in their own little room; they're not going to come back into the suite until morning. Come on JJ, we can be quiet." He was practically begging at this point and JJ was about to relent when they heard the front door of the suite open and then footsteps that led to the bathroom.

"You were saying?" JJ asked wryly.

"Dammit!" Dave exclaimed softly as he heard the toilet flush and then he heard the footsteps retreat back out of the suite. His wife was right; they wouldn't have much privacy on their trip. Sighing, he released her and headed for the bedroom door.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"I'm taking your suggestion about the cold shower," he told her as he stepped out of the room. Her laughter followed him all the way into the bathroom.

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Early the next morning, JJ awoke shaking violently from a nightmare. A quick glance at her husband confirmed that he'd remained asleep and she was grateful for that. While she didn't suffer from nightmares nearly as much as he and their daughter did, the ordeal they'd all faced earlier in the spring had definitely left its mark on her psyche. Pressing a gentle kiss to Dave's forehead, JJ quietly got up from the bed, put on her robe and crossed the room to the door of the adjoining room. She knocked softly and then silently opened the door and was surprised to see that her daughter was not in the room. She'd gone to the room as a way to reassure herself that Abby was okay and it was disturbing to find her missing.

At the cabin when she awoke early due to a nightmare, Abby usually went out to the back deck to watch the sunrise and JJ assumed that Abby was doing something similar in New York. Making sure she had her cell phone in her robe pocket, in case her husband woke up and found her missing, JJ quietly left the suite and made her way to the elevator. Once inside, she pressed the button for the rooftop deck and waited for it to arrive at the destination. Once there, she stepped onto the deck and saw her daughter standing near the railing by the ledge and she looked like she was deep in thought. JJ crossed the deck and stood next to her.

"Happy birthday, honey," she said softly.

Abby, who was both half asleep and deep in thought, was surprised to see her mother standing next to her. "Thanks mom," she said with a smile. "What are you doing up here?"

"Looking for you," she told her. "I woke up early and couldn't fall back asleep so I thought I would wish you a happy birthday before anyone else. When I saw you weren't in your room, I figured you'd come up here. What are you thinking about?"

Abby sighed, "I was just thinking about the last year of my life. It sucks that when I think back to being seventeen, all I'm going to think about is what Suzette did to us, all of my memories will revolve around the horror of this spring.

JJ's heart broke a little as she put her arm around her daughter's shoulders, "You're right, it _does _suck," she said, not knowing what else to say. They both stood in silence, watching the brightening sky for a few minutes before JJ finally spoke again.

"I can't believe how fast you grew up," she said, a little tearily. Watching the sunrise had put her in a reflective mood as well and she couldn't stop thinking about the fact that her baby was now technically an adult. She also realized that if things had gone any differently with Suzette, Abby might not be standing here right now, she might not have lived to see eighteen. "It seems like just yesterday I was holding you in my arms for the first time and now suddenly you're eighteen and getting ready to start college in a few months."

"Yeah, but it's not like I suddenly don't need you anymore," Abby said softly, "I didn't just wake up today and think 'Oh well, it was nice but I guess mom and dad are out of my life.' You didn't do that with Grandma Abby, heck she was a huge part of your life until she died and I want the same thing! Besides, can you honestly see dad _ever_ backing off from having input in what I do?"

They both laughed, "No, even when we're both old and wrinkled, your father and I will still want a say in what you do, but it's nice to hear that you want it as well," JJ said, pulling Abby into a hug. They stayed in the embrace for a moment before Abby finally pulled out of it.

"Speaking of dad, we'd better get back to the suite before he wakes up and sends a SWAT team looking for us," Abby said. JJ nodded and they both made their way back to the hotel room.


	86. Chapter 87

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 87

**~I feel like I'm always apologizing for not updating this in a timely manner, but I had a HUGE bout of writer's block with this chapter. I have the next five or six chapters heavily outlined, so I should (hopefully) have the next chapter posted in a day or two.**

**~Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter!**

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While Abby and JJ were having their chat up on the rooftop garden, Dave woke up in the suite and was surprised to find his wife missing from not only their bed but their bedroom as well. He tried to tamp down his worry as he'd promised her that he would try to reign in his protectiveness towards her since, in her opinion, it had been getting out of control lately. He hadn't asked for her opinion on the matter, but she'd shouted it at him a week ago when he'd gone searching for her after she didn't return to the cabin after a short walk on the paths in the woods. It turned out she'd changed her route and had gone to the creek to reflect on things and when she had finally returned to the cabin over an hour later, he had made his displeasure at her late arrival well-known. JJ had stood there in the kitchen listening to him sputtering about his worry and what he thought might have happened to her until she had snapped. Setting her drink down hard on the kitchen counter, she told him to back the fuck off. When he responded to her order by bellowing at her, she told him he could take his over protective, cave man attitude and shove it up his tight ass. After she said that, he could have sworn he had heard applause coming from their daughter in the great room but he'd been too stunned to investigate it. Instead, he stood speechless in the kitchen and watched as the love of his life stormed out of it. After about five minutes, he had gone in search of his wife and once he found her in the bedroom, he'd apologized and promised to at least _try _to reign in his protective ways. It was because of that promise that he didn't go looking for her when he found her missing from their bed.

Instead, he laid back and reveled in the fact that it wasn't a nightmare that had awakened him. Since he'd started seeing the psychiatrist Dr. Kendall had referred him to, a Dr. Walsh, his nightmares had slowly started receding. Sure, he still woke up once or twice a week in a cold sweat, but in general he'd been sleeping through the night. He was surprised that his therapy was going so well since Abby was still struggling with her nightmares, but he assumed her age and the fact that she had never really seen much violence in her life made it harder for her to get past the horrors they had all faced in the early part of spring.

Abby. As he lay on his back with his hands laced behind his head, he reflected on his daughter. How was it possible that she was eighteen years old already? It seemed like just yesterday they were going out for that first awkward meal tighter and now she was nearing her high school graduation and was preparing for college. He sighed as he thought about all the things he'd missed in her life. While he'd forgiven JJ for keeping him from Abby during her younger years, it was during times like these where he wallowed in the fact that he would never get those years back. He'd missed seeing her birth, her first steps, her first day of school, most of her awkward teen years, everything. He'd finally met her as she was nearing the end of her official childhood, and while he was grateful for the past couple of years with her, he would always regret not being a part of her life when she was younger.

Speaking of his wife and daughter, as he lay there reminiscing he heard the door to the suite open and soon after he heard the distinct sounds of giggles coming from the living room. Pulling himself out of the comfortable bed, Dave grabbed one of the hotel robes from the closet, threw it on and then went to join his girls.

"Having fun?" He asked as he walked into the room. Both women looked up at him from the sofa

"Hi dad," Abby said, scooting towards the middle so he could sit down next to her.

"Morning honey," JJ said with a smile on her face.

"Mom and I were just remembering some of my birthday parties as a kid," Abby explained.

Dave held back his own snort of amusement; 'my birthdays as a kid?' Did she really think she wasn't a kid anymore? While society might see her as an adult, she still was, and would always be, a child to him and if she thought they were going to magically begin treating her like an independent adult, she was sorely mistaken. Wisely, he said none of this; instead he inquired about some of her past parties.

"Mom might not have been able to afford much when it was just the two of us, but the birthday parties she gave me were legendary!" Abby told him. "There was that one, when I was eight, when you and Grandma Abby invited just about the entire town, remember?"

JJ nodded, "And only half of them RSVP'd, but all of them showed up! I think that was the first and last time my mother ran out of food at a party!"

"But then remember how she asked Grandfather Jareau to go the store and he refused? I think that was the only time she ever openly threatened him!"

JJ gasped in laughter, "And then there was your twelfth birthday, which almost got shut down by the cops. Remember how-"

"Wait, wait, wait," Dave said, holding up his hand, "You're telling me that our daughter's twelfth birthday party was broken up by DC's finest? How in the hell did you manage that?"

"That year Abby's birthday was on a Friday night, so we invited her friends and their parents and our team. Well that year, we also had an old battle-axe of a neighbor-"

"Mrs. Parsons!" Abby interrupted, "What a bi-biddy," she caught herself in time. "She HATED us! She totally thought that mom was a whore or something because she was a young, single mother. She harassed us every chance she got."

"Anyway," JJ continued, "The party got pretty loud, but it was only nine o'clock at night, so I thought we were okay until there was a knock on the door. When I answered it, she burst into the apartment and started complaining about the noise and all of the people and she threatened to call the authorities."

Abby continued the story, "So Uncle Aaron, who had heard all about her from mom and I, stepped up behind mom, pulled out his badge, shoved it in her face and said 'We _are_ the authorities'." Then all of the other members of the team, including mom, showed her _their_ badges."

"Suffice it to say, we never had a problem with her again," JJ finished.

Dave grinned, "It sounds like you two were a handful back in the day," he said, refraining from commenting on them _still_ being a handful.

They sat in silence for another minute before Dave spoke again, "You realize you're messing up my tradition, don't you?"

Abby's smile grew, "Birthday breakfast in bed?" Her dad nodded. "Would you like me to go back to my room and pretend I haven't gotten up yet?" She asked jokingly and was surprised by her dad's answer.

"Yup," he said seriously, "I've already called room service."

Laughing, Abby got up from the sofa and made her way to the front door. Her father got up and caught her just as she got to the door. "Abby," he said and she turned to face him. "Happy birthday, Pumpkin," he said before pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Thanks dad," she said, giving him a quick hug before going back to the room she shared with her friends. She quietly snuck back into the room, running the gauntlet between the rollaway bed that Jack was sleeping on and the other double bed that Becca was using before she finally settled under the covers of her own bed.

Just as she got comfortable, she heard her friends stirring in the room. Before she knew it, they both flew over to her bed and began bouncing on it to 'wake' her up. "Happy birthday Abby!" Becca said, giving her a hug.

"Happy birthday, Abs," Jack said, bouncing from his corner of the bed. He really wanted to pull her into his arms and give her a kiss, but with Becca there and with Dave in the next room, he decided to restrain his urges.

"Thanks guys, I'm so glad you're both here!"

"Presents!" Becca exclaimed, grabbing a large gift wrapped box from her duffel bag that was on the floor. She handed it to Abby and, as expected, the birthday girl tore into it like there was no tomorrow.

"Thanks Bex," Abby exclaimed as she opened the box and pulled out a bunch of chick-lit books, which were her favorite. "I can't wait to read these over the summer." Since she would have no reading lists, no swim team practice and basically nothing to do over the summer, Abby was looking forward to simply relaxing before starting college in the fall.

"I threw in some smutty romance novels too, but you'll probably want to keep those hidden from the parentals," her friend said with a grin.

"Now I _really_ can't wait to read them!"

Jack rolled his eyes at the girliness in the room and handed Abby a smaller box. As she took it, Abby noticed the elegant wrapping paper and bow and immediately knew that Jack had had her gift wrapped at whatever store he'd gotten it from. While both he and her uncle had gotten along fine without a woman in their lives full-time, their gift wrapping skills left something to be desired. In fact, Garcia had once received a secret Santa gift from Hotch and before she knew it was from him, she'd described the wrapping job as 'one that was done by a blind monkey.' From then on, both Hotch and Jack switched to gift bags.

Elegant wrap job or not, it was still a present and Abby tore into the paper the same as she always did. She was surprised to find a jewelry box underneath and she gasped as she opened it. Inside there was a delicate gold chain with two interconnected circle pendants hanging off of it. As she took it from the box to examine it further, her boyfriend explained the symbolism of it.

"The two circles are us, we're intertwined; we have been since we met and we will be forever, no matter what," he said as he took the necklace from her and fastened it around her neck.

Abby was touched by his gift and without thinking about Becca or her dad in the next room; she pulled him forward by his t-shirt and gave him a long and passionate kiss. They finally pulled apart when they heard Becca clear her throat, "Um, do you guys want me to leave?"

"Sorry Bex," Abby said red-faced. She was thankful her friend had stopped them though, because as soon as they pulled apart, there was a knock on their door from the suite.

"Come in," Abby called out as Jack quickly moved from her bed to a nearby chair. Her parents entered and brought a rolling cart full of food with them.

"Happy birthday Abby!" They sang in unison, as though she hadn't seen them just twenty minutes ago.

"Thanks guys!" She exclaimed, looking at the cart laden with breakfast items. They all helped themselves from it and then sat on any available surface in the room. JJ and Dave sat on Becca's bed while Becca remained with Abby on hers and Jack wisely stayed in the chair. While they ate, everyone discussed what they should do for the day and they finally agreed to take a bus tour of Manhattan. It was one of those 'hop on, hop off' open top busses so they could stop and explore on their own.

After everyone was finished eating, JJ went back into the suite bedroom for a minute and then came back out carrying numerous, gift wrapped boxes. "How did you get these here?" Abby asked as her mom set the pile down in front of her.

"We shipped them a couple of days ago," her dad answered with a smile. "Now go ahead and rip into them!"

Abby followed his directions and wasted no time in opening her gifts. There was a lot of clothing that she'd pointed out to her mother the last time they'd been shopping and there were some non-smutty books, a few CD's and some DVD's. The best was the smallest box in the pile. Abby opened it and screamed loud enough to wake the dead. "You got me an iPod touch? Oh my God, thank you SO much!" She said, hugging both of her parents at the same time.

"Since your old iPod isn't working anymore, we thought you'd like this one," JJ said, handing her a fifty dollar iTunes gift card to go with it.

Abby spent the next five minutes trying out all of the features of her new piece of electronics before JJ told all of them that they had half an hour to get ready and meet in the living room of the suite. After that, she and Dave left so they could get ready and the kids could get dressed. As Abby made her way to the bathroom, she found herself finally looking forward to her day in New York.

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The day was a fun one for everyone in their party. They caught one of the open-top, double-decker sightseeing buses as soon as they stepped out of their hotel and they all enjoyed being tourists for the day. The girls were blown away by all of the shopping opportunities near them and the guys had to practically restrain them so they wouldn't blow their entire day in the stores. After that, they paid their somber respects at Ground Zero, saw the Statue of Liberty from the shoreline and then took the bus to Time Square, where they roamed around looking at everything it had to offer. They ate lunch at an authentic New York deli and afterwards, they climbed back aboard the bus for more sightseeing and generally had a light and fun filled afternoon…until the bus took a detour due to some construction.

Dave, who was sitting next to his wife and behind Abby and Becca, recognized the street they had turned onto and knew what was coming up. Leaning forward, he said to Becca, "Trade places with me." The teen, hearing the tension in Dave's voice, nodded and swapped aisle seats with him.

"Hey dad, what's up?" Abby said, still staring out at the buildings that were going by.

"Honey, the hotel we stayed at is coming up," he said softly, taking her hand.

Abby was confused for a minute; their hotel had been across the street from the hospital. Then it dawned on her, _the_ hotel was coming up, as in their first hotel, the one where Will attacked them. "Okay," she said, taking a deep breath. Sure enough, as the bus slowed down for a red light, the hotel appeared directly across from where they were looking.

JJ, having heard her husband's conversation with Abby, leaned forward in her seat behind her daughter and put her hand on her shoulder; she could feel her trembling. Dave felt the same thing in her hand as he held it tightly.

Abby just stared at the hotel. In the whole scheme of things, it shouldn't be too scary. She figured if she could still live at the cabin, where everything happened that horrible night, then seeing the hotel again shouldn't freak her out. As it was, she couldn't tear her eyes away from the building in front of them until the bus finally pulled away. Wiping some unshed tears from her eyes, she turned to her dad and said, "I'm fine," and she meant it.

Dave and JJ sighed in unison, both relieved that seeing the place where so much horror had taken place hadn't seemed to shake her too badly. They both gave her squeezes of reassurance and then went back to sightseeing, as if nothing had happened.

Later that night, after a dinner at Tavern on the Green, which was Abby's favorite place, the five of them stood out front of the hotel. It wasn't very late, only nine o'clock, but it had been a long day and Dave could tell that his still recuperating wife needed to call it a night. Calling the kids over to him, he handed Abby a hundred dollars.

"I'm cutting you kids loose," he said and got three large grins in return. "No piercings, tattoos or calls for bail money, and that goes for all three of you," he told them. "I want to be able to return you two" he looked at Jack and Becca as he spoke, "home without any additional holes, ink or criminal records. Be back in your room by midnight." With that he gave his daughter a kiss on the top of her head, turned and put his arm around JJ's waist and started into the hotel. The kids, having a hundred bucks in the largest city in the country, hailed a cab and began planning their night.

As they stepped into the hotel, JJ looked back and saw the three kids piling into a cab. "Do you really think that was smart, Dave?" She asked.

"Hell honey, they're good kids and they deserve a night of fun away from us old fogeys," he told her.

"Old?" JJ asked in an offended voice, "You may be an old man, but I'm still in the prime of my life!" She told him, as they walked through the ornate lobby.

"Oh yeah?" He asked with a grin, "Prove it!"

And JJ did prove it, many times, up until they heard the teens return to their room next door.


	87. Chapter 88

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 88

**~Wow, so the last chapter officially made this story longer than 'An Unconventional Family,' and there is still a bit left in this journey. When I first envisioned this story, I expected it to be about half the size of it's predecessor...obviously that was a pipe dream. Thanks to everyone who's still reading this! This story wouldn't be half as interesting without all of the reviews, suggestions and motivations from all of you!**

* * *

"Do you want me to add the basil, Nonna?" Abby called out to her grandmother. She, her parents and her two friends had arrived back in DC the previous evening after another fun-filled day of sightseeing in New York. While it had been difficult to drag herself out of bed for school that morning, it had been worth it to have some nice memories of the city.

Marie approached the stove, "Let it simmer for a few more minutes, Little One," she said gently. "If you add the basil too early, it will burn and it will give the sauce a funny taste." Since she hadn't been able to see her granddaughter on her birthday, Marie had invited Abby to her townhouse for dinner. Because they were eating fairly late, Abby was also going to spend the night instead of driving back to the cabin and she would make the much shorter commute to school in the morning.

Abby set the herb down and helped her grandmother set the table. While she and her parents usually grabbed their plates, utensils and food in the kitchen and then brought it to wherever they were going to eat, be it the dining room, the four season room or the backyard deck, her grandmother always set the table as if the president was coming to dinner. It didn't matter that it was just the two of them and they were having spaghetti and meatballs, there was still a full spread of dishes, silverware and glasses on the dining room table.

Once Marie decreed the sauce to have simmered long enough, she added the fresh herbs, turned off the heat and transferred the sauce into a serving bowl. She brought the bowl to the table and set it among all of the other food. After saying grace, she and Abby dug into the delicious meal and silence reigned as they savored the food. Marie finally broke the silence when she reached into her apron pocket and pulled out two small, gift-wrapped packages. "Happy birthday, Little One," she said gently as she passed them to her granddaughter.

Abby set her fork down, "You didn't have to get me anything, Nonna," she told her.

"Hush," she admonished lightly, "You're my granddaughter, of course I got you something for your birthday, now open the small box first."

Abby smiled and tore into the paper. Once it was off, she opened the small box and gasped; inside there was a gold ring and in the center of the ring was a small pearl. "It's beautiful, Nonna," she breathed as she slipped it onto her finger, "And it fits!"

Marie nodded, "I got your ring size from your mother and I had it adjusted for you."

"But how did mom know my ring size?" Abby asked out loud and then instantly answered her own question. "Of course, from my class ring order form." Abby had ordered her high school class ring two weeks ago and her mother must have remembered from then.

"That was my grandmother's engagement ring," Marie told her as a gentle smile came over her features. "My grandfather couldn't afford to give her a diamond, but my grandmother loved pearls, so he got her this ring instead."

"I love it, Nonna, thank you so much," Abby said as she leaned over to give her grandmother a hug. "But don't you want to give some of this jewelry to Aunt Cathy or Aunt Anna? Heck, even Aunt Rachelle might want it, you know, once she moves back to the country full time."

"Trust me, Abby, my daughters have gotten many pieces of jewelry from me, but this ring, like the necklace I gave you for your sixteenth birthday, are items that are passed down from grandmother to granddaughter. Someday you will pass this down to _your_ granddaughter."

Abby laughed, "That will be a _long_ time from now."

Marie's smile grew, "You can open the other gift if you would like."

Abby tore into that box and found a gift certificate. "Wow, thanks Nonna, I _love_ Amazon!"

"I know you do and I figured you could use this gift card for some of the things you'll need for college in the fall." Abby's smile fell a little upon hearing college brought up. "I know I promised not to bug you about it," Marie continued, "But have you decided where you want to go in the fall?"

Abby shook her head, "I decide one day and then I change my mind the next. I have no idea where I should go!"

"I understand it's a hard decision, Little One, but you need to let your parents know about California," her grandmother told her.

"I can't!" Abby said loudly, "Nonna, they'll kill me! Especially once they find out I've known about my acceptance since March!"

"They might be…upset at first," Marie agreed, "But-"

Abby, not fully remembering who she was talking to as panic gripped her mind, interrupted her grandmother. "Upset?" She asked, louder than before. "No, they are going to be WAY past upset! They're going to go ballistic! Plus, I guarantee they'll tell me I can't go to UC Berkeley and that will set off a whole new argument!" It finally dawned on Abby that she was coming dangerously close to shouting at her grandmother and she knew that was the biggest sin she could commit in her family. The only time they'd ever really yelled at each other was during their disagreement at the hospital in New York and Abby knew her grandmother had let her off the hook for it only because she'd just been attacked and she was worried about her mother. If she didn't chill out now, who knows what her grandmother would do or say. She took a deep breath and looked at her Nonna, trying to gauge if she'd gone too far. Thankfully, she didn't look too upset.

"They deserve to know that you might be moving three thousand miles away," Marie said sternly, not admonishing her for interrupting; she knew the girl was agonizing over her decision and she could overlook the little bit of impertinence. "What are you going to do, tell them as you're leaving?"

"Actually I was thinking I would call them from my dorm room," Abby muttered and then watched as her grandmother tried not to laugh once the mental image of THAT scenario flashed through her head.

"You wouldn't want them to keep something like this a secret from you, would you?" The teen reluctantly shook her head. "Then don't you think they deserve the same courtesy? They're still going to love you, no matter what you decide."

"Yeah, but once I tell them, it makes it real," Abby said, still somewhat panicked. "Once they know, they'll be hounding me for a decision, or else they'll just make it for me, but if they don't know about it then it's still hypothetical."

"You have to tell them, Abigail, and soon," Marie said decisively. "I can't keep this from them for much longer and don't you think it would be better if they heard it from you?"

Abby sighed and set her napkin down on the table. "Can I be excused for a minute so I can call Jack? We want to tell our parents at the same time. That way, when we're grounded into dust, at least we'll be grounded together." She'd told her grandmother about Jack's plans for after graduation and while Marie had been shocked, she'd also kept his secret.

Marie nodded and as Abby made her phone call, she thought about the difficult decision she had to make. A part of her understood what her granddaughter was going through, she had to make the same kind of choice when she left Italy with her husband and it hadn't been easy. While she understood what Abby was going through, another part of her wanted to talk her out of leaving but it was for selfish reasons. She had waited seventy-five years to become a grandmother and she wanted more time with her granddaughter, plain and simple. Her mind knew that if she decided to go to school in California, she would only be a four hour plane ride away, but her heart felt as though she would be on the other side of the world. Her thoughts were interrupted when Abby returned to the table with a resigned look on her face.

"You win," she said glumly, "We're going to tell them tomorrow night."

"You're both doing the right thing," Marie assured her.

"I hope you're right," Abby said as she piled more pasta onto her plate. "Since this is my last supper, I might as well make it a good one."

xxxxxxxxxx

"You know this isn't going to go well for either of us, don't you?" Jack asked his girlfriend as he drove home from his dad's favorite pizza place. He knew he shouldn't be driving and talking on his phone at the same time, but he was nervous as hell and he needed to hear a calming voice. Too bad that Abby was just as panicked as he was and she wasn't very calming at that moment.

"I know," she said as she cooked dinner at the cabin.

"They're going to kill us, me more than you, at least you're still planning on going to college next year. When I tell my dad that I'm not going, he's either going to have a stroke or he'll flat out kill me."

"He won't kill you, Jack," Abby said as Jack's terror drove hers up another notch. For a guy, he sure was melodramatic.

"No, he'll just make me _wish _I was dead!"

"Is Emily going to be there?" She asked. Emily would be like a wild card in the discussion; she could either agree with Hotch and help him rip Jack to shreds, or she could agree with Jack and help him make his case. Abby wasn't sure which way she would go on this particular topic.

Jack shook his head and then remembered she couldn't see him through the phone. "No, I called her last night and told her I needed to talk to my dad alone and she nicely agreed to stay at her apartment tonight."

"At least you'll only have to face one angry parent," Abby told him, as her panic ratcheted up a notch. "Would you rather face _both_ of my parents?"

"My dad may be just one guy, but he's as scary as three people when he gets pissed!" Jack argued. "You don't get it, I'm a Hotchner and Hotchner men don't _do _things like this. God, it took my dad a couple of years to accept that my Uncle Sean didn't go to law school and even then he still brings it up every once in a while!"

"I don't know what to tell you Jack; if we don't tell them tonight, I'm not entirely sure my grandmother won't spill the beans. Wouldn't you rather Uncle Aaron hears about it from you?" Abby asked, not entirely sure she didn't want to let her grandmother break the news to her parents.

Jack sighed as he pulled into his driveway, "I guess you're right. I'm home now, I should let you go."

"Okay," Abby said, with a hint of panic in _her_ voice. "We'll call each other at eleven, right? Assuming we both still have our cell phones."

"Eleven it is," he said as he got out of his car.

"You'll be fine," Abby tried reassuring him. "I love you."

"Love you too, Abs," he said and then disconnected the call. The whole 'I love you' thing was new for both of them, they only began saying it about a week earlier and it still gave them both a tingle when they heard it.

Holding tightly to both their parting words and the pizza box, Jack put his key in the lock and sent up a small prayer that his dad was still at work. The fates weren't listening to him, because as soon as he walked in the door, he heard his dad's voice on the phone. Sighing resignedly, he walked into the kitchen, set the box down and began getting plates and drinks for the two of them.

Hotch walked into the room two minutes later and was surprised to see that his son had brought dinner home with him. As he watched Jack move around the kitchen, he could instantly tell that something was up with him, but he wasn't sure what it was. As they sat down to eat a quiet supper, he further studied his son's behavior. While they weren't quite as chatty as the Rossi family, they were two guys after all, they tended to share facets of their days with each other during mealtime and Hotch was surprised and a little worried by Jack's silence.

Once they'd both had their fill, Hotch finally brought up the elephant in the room. "Okay Jack, what's up?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" His son responded, not looking him in the eye.

"I _mean_, what's going on with you tonight? You obviously have something on your mind, so why don't you tell me what it is?"

"I hate living with a profiler," Jack mumbled, still not saying much.

"Come on Jack; just tell me what's wrong. Did something happen with you and Abby?" Hotch prodded. It was easier to get information out an unsub than it was to get Jack to open up when he didn't want to.

"No, Abby and I are fine," he said, biding his time. In actuality, he was stalling for time to think. How exactly did one go about giving their father an aneurysm? Should he try and break it to him gently? Should preface it with something worse before telling him? Something along the lines of, 'Hey dad, Abby's pregnant!' Then, just before his dad's heart stopped, he could say, 'Just kidding, but I'm not going to college next year.' Yeah, that could work…or not. Knowing his dad and how he felt about his pseudo-niece, he might start shooting first and ask questions later. No, the best bet was to be direct with him and deal with the fallout.

He took a deep breath, "I've been thinking about next year," he started.

Hotch nodded sympathetically, "Getting nervous about college already?" He asked. Part of him could understand his son's nerves, he'd felt the same way at his age, but at least Jack would be attending school close to home since he was planning on attending Georgetown with Abby.

"Um, not really," Jack said, staring intently at the table.

"Well then what is it?" Hotch asked, his patience beginning to ebb.

"I'm not going to college next fall," he said, looking at his dad. "I want to take a year off to travel around the country, maybe even the world! I want to meet new people, see new sights and have a ton of experiences before I'm trapped by the responsibilities of adulthood! I need a break before starting school and this will give it to me."

Hotch could count on one hand the number of times he'd been struck absolutely speechless in his life, and this was one of those times. Feeling his synapses stop firing, he just stared dumbly at his son and after a minute, Jack began to get worried.

"Dad? Dad? Yo, dad? You with me?" Jack asked, waving a hand in front of his dad's face. He was worried about his reaction, not only because he appeared to have actually _had_ an aneurysm, but also because he was taking so long to react. Jack had been around enough kids to know that the longer the time between falling down and crying, the louder the screams would be and he figured the same logic applied here.

"I'm here," Hotch said in a normal tone. "I must have misheard you though," he said, his voice getting louder with each word, "Because I could have sworn you said you wanted to take a year off, and I know that can't be true because that would throw all of our plans into a TAILSPIN! I know it can't be true because you've been talking about attending Georgetown for the PAST 2 MONTHS! What is _wrong _with you? What is _wrong_ with your BRAIN?"

"Nothing's wrong with me or my brain dad, I just want some time to live a little," Jack tried explaining, but it only further angered his father.

"You want to live a little? Fine, live here, have experiences here while you're going to school, but don't flush away your future because you want to have some fun! For Christ's sake Jack, you got into a really good school!"

"I know I did, and if I got in once, I'll probably get in again, just as soon as I'm ready to go."

"Newsflash son, you're ready to go _now_, or at least you will be by the time September rolls around!" Hotch yelled.

"You don't get it Dad," Jack shouted back, "I'm NOT ready to go now! I have a TON of stuff I want to see and do before I get tied down to a Goddamn college!"

"Watch your mouth!" Hotch said sternly, trying to calm down but it wasn't working. "I'm telling you right now Jack, this is NOT happening. You WILL be attending Georgetown, just like we planned, got it?"

His son shook his head, "I don't think you understand, dad, I'm not asking you if I can do this, I'm telling you that I _am_ doing this and there's not much you can do to stop me!"

"Goddammit Jack! Just tell me why? Why do you want to potentially throw your future into the toilet? And don't give me that hippie bullshit about finding yourself! WHY ARE YOU REALLY DOING THIS?" Hotch's voice nearly shook the roof rafters, but Jack wasn't backing down.

"I don't want to turn into YOU, okay?" Jack shouted back.


	88. Chapter 89

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 89

* * *

Jack, not seeing the hurt look come over his father's face, continued in his tirade, "I don't want to end up consumed by my job! I don't want to miss out on the good in life because I'm so busy working that I forget to stop and look around!"

Hotch sat back in a stunned silence, but he'd opened the floodgates for his son and there was no stopping him.

"God, you just don't get it, do you?" Jack yelled, "My whole life I've watched you put aside your own personal happiness in favor of your work, and I don't want that to be my life! Jesus dad, do you even realize how much you've missed out on in life?"

"Evidently I don't," Hotch said in a steely voice, his eyes narrowed at his son. "Please, enlighten me."

Jack, either not noticing his father's tone or not caring, plowed ahead. "Fine, I will! We barely have any kind of relationship with either side of our family, you hardly have any memories of my childhood, other than what you've seen in videos, you rarely see Uncle Sean even though he only lives three hours away, and you don't have any friends outside of the BAU. For God's sake, mom's been dead for almost ten years and it took you this long to find someone else, and even _she's_ in the BAU! You've never even _tried _having a life outside of work and I'll be damned if I live like that!"

"Enough!" Hotch roared, slamming his fist down on the table. "Do you think _I_ had it easy being a single father?" He asked rhetorically. Jack saw the anger in his eyes and wisely sat back in his chair and said nothing. His arms were crossed over his chest and he had a defiant look on his face, but he let his father have his say.

"You wonder _why_ I didn't date until you were older? You wonder why I don't have friends outside of the BAU?" Hotch continued, "I did it so I would have more time with YOU! I knew that if I dated, or if I spent time with people outside of the team, it would cut into the precious amount of time I had with you! I could leave my team at the end of the day, I could turn down their offers of drinks and still be okay with them and I could bring you to team social gatherings! And as for dating another member of the BAU? Do you really think I didn't have opportunities to date other women in the past? I didn't because they either didn't get my job or they didn't want to date a single dad! And don't you _dare_ tell me that I missed everything in your childhood! I made it to as many of your milestones and events as I could and I think I did a pretty decent job of being there!

"Really?" Jack shouted back at him, "REALLY? For every birthday you were there for, you missed two others! For every sickness you comforted me through, you left me alone for three more!" Seeing his dad open his mouth to interrupt, Jack held up his hand and kept talking. "Okay, maybe you didn't leave me alone, but you left me with nannies! And what sucked is I couldn't even complain about it! I couldn't get angry about it because you were off saving the world when you missed my things! I get that you were trying to make the world a safer place for me, but maybe _I _would have felt safer in the world if I'd had a full-time dad!"

Hotch sat back in his chair, closed his eyes and exhaled deeply; his son's words had cut him deeply but the conversation had gotten far away from the main point and he wanted to bring it back around. Leaning forward, he opened his eyes and said, "I'm sorry you think I was such a horrible father and I'm sorry you were such a neglected kid, but that doesn't change the fact that you _will_ be going to college in the fall, THIS fall."

Jack shook his head, "I don't think _you_ get it dad," he said loudly, "Again, I'm not asking your permission, I'm telling you this is what I'll be doing in the fall."

"How are you going to pay for it?" Hotch asked tightly, "I know how much you make at Jovial Java and I also know how much you have in your savings account. Let me tell you, son, you're going to need a whole lot more than that to take a year off."

Jack felt his anger increase, his father was being condescending and he _hated _when people talked down to him. "I know that dad," he said just as condescendingly as his father, "That's why I'm going to use some of the money that Grandma and Grandpa left me."

"WHAT?" Hotch roared. "They left you that money so you could use it for college! They didn't leave it to you so you could piss it away while you roam around the world 'finding yourself'!"

"I'm not going to use _all_ of it," Jack yelled back, "If you'd listen for once, you would've heard me say that I'm going to use _some_ of the money from Grandma and Grandpa! If I work while I travel and if I stay at hostels and take buses around the country, I should still have enough left for college."

"You WILL have enough left for college because there's no way I'm letting you dip into that money for your travels! You want to take a year off? Then find some other way to finance it!"

Jack gave a sharp bark of laughter, "Do the math dad, I'm eighteen years old so I control that money now."

Dammit, he hadn't thought about that; he still tended to see his son as a thirteen year old who needed his guidance and protection, although from his diatribe it seems he never got either one from him. "What does Abby think about all of this? She's going to be devastated when she finds out you won't be joining her at Georgetown in the fall."

"Abby knows and she's fine with it. Unlike _some_ people, _she _supports me and _she _wants me to do what's best for me, not for everyone else."

The last hope Hotch had been clinging to was ripped away and his anger spiked again, "Goddammit, you're grounded!"

"Grounded?" Jack asked, both astonished and angry, "You can't ground me! I'm eighteen years old, I'm an adult!"

"As long as you live under my roof, I can still ground you!" Hotch shot back.

"Fine, what in the hell am I being grounded for?" Jack yelled.

"Take your pick!" Hotch shouted back, "How about for lying to me about your plans to attend Georgetown in the fall? How about for your disrespectful attitude and tone? How about for flushing your entire future down the toilet? Do any of those work for you?"

Jack took a deep breath before responding; he had known his father wouldn't be in favor of his plans so he'd somewhat expected this type of reaction, although it didn't make it any easier to take. "Fine," he said in a calmer tone of voice, "But you can ground me and yell at me all you want dad, I'm still not going to college in the fall."

Hotch stood up and looked down at his son, "Then it seems we're at an impasse," he said in the same tone of voice.

"It seems we are," Jack agreed as he also rose from his chair. They stared at each other for a few minutes, neither one of them wanting to back down first, before Jack finally turned away from his father and started to walk out of the kitchen.

"You won't win this one, son," Hotch said determinedly.

"We'll see about that," Jack told him over his shoulder before leaving the room completely.

* * *

_**Up next, Dave and JJ's reaction to Abby's news. I have the chapter heavily outlined and I hope to have it up later today or tomorrow. _


	89. Chapter 90

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 90

* * *

"You did _not_ tell me that you needed to go into the BAU again this week, Jen," Abby heard her father say loudly as he and her mother entered the kitchen from the garage. "Believe me, I would've remembered it."

"Well I'm sorry Dave, I thought I had mentioned my light work week this week, but maybe I didn't," JJ lied. She knew full well she hadn't told her husband that she needed to work at the BAU this week and she didn't for this very reason, she was hoping to avoid another argument with him.

She'd tried being breezy about it. She'd strolled down the stairs that morning in her business attire and had poured herself a cup of coffee and picked up the newspaper like she did on any normal work day. As she'd scanned the day's headlines, she'd felt his eyes boring holes into her. Finally she looked up and asked, "What?"

"Why are you dressed like that?" He asked her. "You look like you're going in to the office." While his wife was dressed smartly, he was still unshaven and in his pajamas, although he had a good reason to be disheveled; he was exhausted. Since Abby had spent the night at his mother's house, he and JJ had used the time to get reacquainted with each other…intimately reacquainted. While they had been more daring than they usually were, they'd kept their promise to their daughter and had restricted their activities to their bedroom. Their daughter had already walked in on them once while they were having sex and they sure as hell didn't need a repeat of THAT!

"I _am_ going into the office, don't you remember?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Dave asked, setting his coffee cup down hard on the breakfast bar. "One week. We agreed you would work one week and even then it was more like a week and a half!"

"David, I told you last week that I needed to go back in this week, the camera crews have some follow up questions and footage they need to shoot," JJ said, lying through her pearly white teeth.

"No. No, I would have remembered something like that, trust me!"

"Well I don't know what to tell you honey, but I've got to go to work today; I promised Hotch I'd be there," she told him, grabbing her purse.

"Wait," he said. "The agreement was that if you're at the BAU, then I'm at the BAU. Give me ten minutes and I'll be ready to go." He had a less than happy look on his face and JJ knew better than to push it with him, so she nodded her agreement and then refilled her coffee mug.

To her surprise, the day wasn't too bad. While Dave was grumpy all day, he'd kept to his office and, miraculously, he hadn't tried interfering with the camera crew. It wasn't until the drive home that he'd revisited the topic of her working for the rest of the week.

Her daughter's voice pulled her from her reverie, "Hi mom, hi dad. How was the BAU?" She asked cheerily. 'Cool it Abby,' she told herself. The last thing she wanted to do was give them a heads up on her nervousness. Her plan was to soothe them with a big dinner and then bring up UC Berkeley and if she let her nervousness show too early, they would hound her for the entire meal and it would put everyone on edge.

"It was fine," Dave said, kissing the top of her head, "I just wish your mother would fess up about not telling me about it."

"I _did_ tell you about it Dave," JJ maintained. "Is it my fault you only listen to half of what I tell you?"

"Um, are you two arguing?" Abby asked. That was the absolute LAST thing she needed right now. She knew that if they were both cranky, then their reaction to her possible college choice would be MUCH worse. She quickly glanced at the clock and considered calling Jack back to call the whole thing off. Let Nonna tell them, or Garcia. Hell, at this point she was considering sending the news to them via email.

"We're not fighting…exactly," her dad told her with a smile, "We're just having a loud disagreement."

"And that's different from fighting how?" Abby asked, as she checked the casserole in the oven.

JJ looked at her daughter and realized it wasn't fair to put her in the middle of this. "Fine Dave, you win, I never told you about going back to the BAU this week. I wanted to avoid an argument about it, but it didn't work."

"Thank you, that's all I wanted to hear," Dave said, with a small smile. "I just wanted to know that I wasn't going crazy."

"Too late," came the reply, in unison, from his girls.

"Ha, ha, very funny," he said with a grin and then took a deep breath. "It smells great in here, Pumpkin. Whatcha cooking?"

"I made pork chop casserole and I have a bunch of asparagus steaming on the stove," she said, gesturing towards a pan on one of the back burners. She looked up from the stove and saw her parents staring at her in astonishment. "What?" She asked.

"_You_ made the pork chop casserole?" Her mom asked and Abby nodded, "But you _hate _that stuff!" JJ continued.

"I don't _hate_ it," Abby lied, "I just don't care for it much." The truth was, she hated that meal more than any other food on the planet. For some inexplicable reason, her parents liked a casserole that consisted of rice, tomato sauce and boneless pork chops all mixed together. Once finished, it resembled vomit and it tasted even worse!

Her dad shook his head, "No, you hate it Abby. Hell, you won't even let _me_ make it unless you're out of the house because even the smell makes you nauseous. And asparagus? You once told me you'd rather eat rat poison than asparagus. What gives?"

"Nothing gives," Abby said testily. "We had the pork chops in the freezer and I thought it would be a nice treat for the two of you. God! If I had known I would be interrogated over it, I would have made chicken!" As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Abby knew she should dial it down a bit; the absolute LAST thing she needed was to piss her dad off before she broke the news to them.

"We're not interrogating you, Abby," her mother interjected, "We're just pleasantly surprised that you made us this meal."

"Well, it's almost ready; can you take it out while I use the bathroom?" JJ nodded and Abby left the room.

"What in the hell do you think this is all about?" Dave asked, half amused and half terrified. If she was going to all of this trouble, whatever she wanted had to be big.

"I have an idea of what she wants," JJ said with a small smile as she set the casserole down on the stove top.

Dave stared at her for a moment, "Well what do you think it is?" He asked, exasperated. Was she expecting him to play twenty questions? Didn't she know that forewarned was forearmed? He really didn't want to blindly walk into his daughter's ambush.

"Prom," JJ said.

"Prom?" Dave asked.

JJ clarified it for him, "It's coming up and I'm guessing she's going to ask if she can stay out all night."

"Absofuckinglutely not!" Dave raged. "Is she an idiot? Why would she even _ask _that?"

"Dave, how many proms did you go to in high school?"

"I went to both my junior and senior prom," he replied, wondering where this was going.

"And what was your curfew for those nights?" JJ inquired, trying to keep an innocent look on her face.

Dave let out a harsh sigh, "Okay, I didn't have one for prom, but that's different, I'm a-" He abruptly shut his mouth as he realized he was talking to his feminist wife about their feminist daughter. But she was able to pick up on his meaning.

"Why is it different Dave? Because you're a guy? Or is it because you're a caveman?"

He tried to think of an answer that wouldn't piss her off, but he couldn't, "Okay, it _is_ different for guys! I know that's not the most popular answer in this house, but it's the truth! Can you honestly tell me you would feel comfortable with our daughter staying out all night?"

JJ didn't want to admit that there was a kernel of truth to what he was saying, so she deflected the question. "Let's just listen to what she has to say and decide from there, okay?"

"Okay," Dave agreed. He felt a little better about the situation since it seemed like his wife was at least somewhat on his side.

Their conversation was cut short as Abby re-entered the kitchen. They all went to work fixing their plates and drinks before taking their meal to the table on the backyard deck, where they enjoyed the cool spring evening.

JJ and Dave enjoyed their dinners while Abby nervously picked at hers. It was obvious to everyone present that Abby had something on her mind and didn't know how to tell her parents about it. After finally choking down three bites of the disgusting meal, she cleared away the plates and brought out both the dessert and a folder full of papers.

Dave nearly laughed out loud when he saw the folder; he wouldn't put it past her to have a presentation lined up, she was her mother's daughter after all. After another ten minutes of watching her pick at her food, he finally broke down and asked her about it.

"What's on your mind, Pumpkin?"

"What?" Abby squeaked. "Why do you think I have something on my mind?" She asked in a high pitched voice.

"You've been nervous all evening, you made us a meal you clearly don't enjoy and now you look as though you're about to jump out of your own skin," her mother told her. "Just talk to us, honey."

"Why don't you guys finish your desserts first and we can talk about it afterwards?" Abby said, trying to put off the inevitable.

Dave shook his head, "How about you tell us whatever you need to _while_ we eat dessert." It wasn't a question so much as it was a command. While her blatant nervousness had been amusing for most of the night, it was beginning to irritate him.

Abby took a deep breath and reached for her file folder. This was it, the moment she'd been dreading since she first found out about her acceptance to UC Berkeley. "Okay," she said, shoring up her courage. She'd faced down both Will and Suzette; how hard could her parents be?

With slightly trembling hands, Abby reached into her folder and pulled out the packets she'd put together for her parents. Dave smiled when she did so, he'd been right, she was organized to a tee and she'd actually put together a mini-presentation. His smile faded when he saw the top page of the packet; it wasn't a picture of a prom like he'd expected, instead he found himself staring at a picture of what looked like a college campus covered with palm trees.

"What's this, Abby?" JJ asked, as she flipped through the information her daughter had given her.

"Um, so I applied to more than just the six colleges on the eastern seaboard," she said, staring at the table.

"Oh?" Dave inquired with a sinking feeling in his stomach. He could tell this wasn't leading to anything good.

"Yeah, I, um, I applied to UC Berkeley…and I, um, got in," she said, still not making eye contact with either of them.

It was silent for a moment until Abby's words dawned on both of her parents at the same time. "CALIFORNIA?" They both said loudly and in unison.

"You want to go college in California?" JJ all but yelled. 'No, no, no, no, no!' She thought to herself, 'This is not happening! Not when we finally have everything all planned! Not when we finally have peace back in our lives!'

"Not just California, but Berkeley!" Dave said, his voice getting louder with each word. "You want to go to one of the most liberal schools in the country?"

"I don't-" Abby started to explain, but was interrupted by her father.

"Please look at us when you're speaking to us, Abigail," he said sternly.

Abigail. That was _definitely _not a good sign. She lifted her eyes from the table and looked at him, "I don't know if I want to go there, I haven't decided yet, I haven't been _able_ to decide. I've been struggling with this for a while now and I thought it was time to let you in on it."

"How long have you known? How long have you been sitting on your acceptance?" He asked.

Abby knew this answer would not be well received, "Since March," she admitted. "I applied in January."

"Since MARCH?" JJ screeched. "You've known for TWO months and you're just letting us know NOW?"

Picking up his wife's thread, Dave continued, "So you've pretty much been lying to us this whole time," he said angrily.

Abby shook her head frantically, she knew how her parents, her father in particular, felt about lies. "I didn't lie, I just didn't tell you everything."

"Come on Abby, a lie of omission is still a lie," Dave told her.

"I know, but with everything that was going on in March, I didn't want to add to it by telling you about this. Besides, I'm still not sure where I want to go!" Abby told him, her own frustration mounting.

"You don't know where you want to go?" JJ repeated calmly, but Abby could hear the anger and frustration in her voice. "Well let me make it really simple for you, Abby. You're not going to school in California, you're staying here."


	90. Chapter 91

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 91

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"I don't think _you _understand, mom," Abby responded, more than a little pissed off at her mother's declaration. "This isn't your decision to make, it's mine." She couldn't believe her mom's reaction; she had been expecting this from her dad, but not her mom! Not her mother, who had left her small town for a big city college experience. She had known her mom wouldn't be happy if she moved to the other side of the country, but she hadn't expected this! If anything, she thought her mother would listen to her reasons for considering UC Berkeley and then help her make her decision, but she didn't expect her to reject the idea without listening!

"The hell it is," JJ yelled, "Not when we're paying for it! You're only eighteen years old, for God's sake; do you really think you have the maturity level to make a decision of this magnitude?"

"Are you calling me immature?" Abby screeched, latching onto that part of her mother's argument. "I may only be eighteen, but in the past year I've had to deal with more than most adults have! I would say that I'm _very_ mature!"

"Pumpkin, you've faced more in your eighteen years than anyone should have to in their entire lives," Dave said, trying to keep the conversation civil, but he knew he was fighting a losing battle on that front. "But you also have scars from that-"

Abby interrupted him, "What are you talking about? I look fine!"

"I'm not talking about the physical scars, Abby; I'm talking about the psychological ones," Dave clarified as the volume of his voice rose. "You still don't like being left alone, you sleep with a night light and you wake up screaming at least twice a week. Do you really think you'll be ready to leave the safety of this house, of everything that's familiar to you, by August?"

Abby nodded emphatically, "I think I will be. Look, I've talked to Dr. Kendall about this and she thinks I'll be much better by August. She also told me that we can continue my counseling via teleconference and I can see her over my breaks, and-"

"So you've already thought this through?" JJ asked angrily, "You've already thought about it enough to start making long-term plans, but you didn't have the courtesy to let _us _in on them?"

"I _told _you, with everything that was happening I didn't want to stress you out even further!" Abby said loudly.

"So instead you let us think you were going to Georgetown! You let us get our hopes up by letting us believe you would be living here while you went to school!" Her dad shouted.

"I never said I would live here-" Abby started, but her dad wouldn't let her get a word in edgewise.

"Not only do you _not_ want to go to Georgetown, a fine institution with a wonderful reputation, but you want to go to a liberal, hippie college in the land of fruits and nuts! What are you going to major in? Rabble rousing? Are you going to minor in making hemp clothing?" No daughter of his was going to turn into a commune living, whacked out, beatnik!

"You don't even know what in the hell you're talking about," Abby told him angrily.

"Watch your tone _and_ your mouth, young lady!" Dave bellowed.

Abby really wanted to lay into him about calling her 'young lady,' but she didn't want to get sidetracked in their argument. "UC Berkeley may be a liberal school-" she began, but her father cut her off once again.

"THE liberal school, Abby. It's not just 'a' liberal school, it's _the_ most liberal college in the country!"

"So what?" She responded loudly, "It may be liberal but it also has an excellent political science program that I can use in lieu of a pre-law major! And speaking of law school, theirs is one of the best in the country!"

"So is Georgetown's!" Dave countered. "They have a great poli sci program _and _ a great law school and you don't have to move three thousand miles away to attend it!"

"Don't you understand? I want to try something new! I want to have new experiences, I want to be seen as someone different, not as a little kid! If I stay here, it will be a continuation of high school! I'll still be the same nerdy little Abigail Rossi, daughter of Dave and Jennifer Rossi, the great FBI agents!" Abby took a deep breath and tried to calm down, she knew a screaming match with her parents wasn't going to accomplish anything. "Maybe a part of me also wants to get away from here…from the memories of this spring. Everywhere I look I'm reminded of what happened to us and…I just want to get away from it all and maybe UC Berkeley is the place to do it."

"You want to try something new? Fine, I understand that," JJ responded back, just as calmly, "You also got into NYU, Columbia, UVA and American University; choose one of those schools," she commanded. "You don't have to move three thousand miles away to have a new experience!"

"Oh my GOD, what is the big fu-freaking deal? UVA, Columbia and NYU are all three hour drives from here, UC Berkeley is only a four hour flight! We're talking about one extra hour here, people!" Abby screeched in frustration. Why couldn't they understand? Why couldn't they understand that she wanted to try something new, that UCB would let her experience not only a new academic setting, but also a totally different part of the country? Were they totally dense? She was just about to ask that when her father spoke up.

"I'm going to warn you one more time about your tone and language usage, Abigail," he said in a lethal voice. It was a tone of voice that Abby knew well and she knew that a grounding was not far behind it, so she closed her mouth.

The three of them sat in an angry silence for a few minutes before JJ spoke again, "This is just a bad idea, Abby. With all that has gone on in the last few months, I don't think you should be so far away from us. I would have told you that before you applied if you had bothered to tell us you were applying." She was frustrated beyond all belief with her daughter, and she wanted her to see their point of view on this.

Before Abby could respond, her father spoke up. "How did you even apply?" He asked.

"What?"

"How did you apply? I can see by your acceptance letter that you had it sent to Garcia's apartment, and I'll be talking to her about that tomorrow, but I'm wondering how you applied in the first place. I know with all of your other applications, your mother and I had to sign them since you were under eighteen. Does UC Berkeley not follow those rules? It would make sense since they don't subscribe to many other rules of society." Dave couldn't resist adding that last part; he couldn't help but imagine Berkeley as a place that would change his daughter into someone he wouldn't recognize and he couldn't let that happen.

Abby dropped her eyes back down to the table, "I, um, I forged your signatures," she practically whispered.

"Jesus Christ!" Her dad exploded. "So not only did you do this behind our backs and then kept your acceptance from us, you forged our fucking signatures?"

"The level of dishonesty, of blatant deceit you used to do this is astonishing!" JJ shouted.

"You realize you broke the law by doing that? You forged the signatures of two federal agents! Not to mention that if UC Berkeley ever found out about it, your acceptance would be rescinded in a heartbeat!" Dave raged.

"Calm down, David," JJ said and then turned to their daughter, "This is a moot point, you're not going to school on the west coast. We're not paying for UC Berkeley. We'll pay for Georgetown and you'll live here like we originally planned."

Abby, who was openly crying out of both anger and frustration, said, "You always told me that if I worked hard enough in high school, I could go anywhere I wanted for college. I worked my ass off for the last four years just to get to this point and now you're yanking it away from me? You're controlling me with money? How is that fair?" She asked through her sobs.

"You know what, Abby? Life isn't always fair, you don't always get what you want in life and you're not getting this." With that, JJ stood up from the table and walked into the house, leaving her husband and daughter out on the deck.

Dave watched as his daughter tried to get her tears under control. While it normally killed him to see her crying, tonight he was frustrated and pissed as hell with her and her tears didn't melt his heart like they usually did. Instead of gathering her into his arms like he normally would, he stayed in his seat and regarded her for a minute. Finally, as her sobs turned into hiccups, he said what was on his mind.

"You know, when I wanted to leave in order to protect the two of you, you called me a coward. Now you want to leave in order to get away from all of the memories. What does that make you?" He asked as he too got up and made his way into the house.

Abby, whose tears had begun again after her father's comments, stayed outside for awhile longer. She knew that if she went into the house, she would say something to her parents that she would later regret. Instead, she stayed outside in the rapidly cooling evening and pondered how everything had completely turned to crap.


	91. Chapter 92

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 92

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The next morning, Abby woke up well before her alarm went off and just lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling. She hadn't expected her parents to be happy at the thought of her going to UC Berkeley, but she'd never expected them to react as badly as they had. When she'd played the scenario in her head, she'd expected her dad to go all caveman protective on her, and he hadn't disappointed, but she never thought her mother would be the one to lay down the law, to forbid her to go to California.

As she looked around the room from her bed, she started to get a closed in, claustrophobic feeling. She had never seen the four walls as particularly confining before, even when she was stuck in the cabin earlier in the spring, but now that she knew she would be living there for the next couple of years, under her parent's rules, she began to feel suffocated. At least before, when she was stuck there earlier in spring, she knew there would come a time when she could leave again, but now that her parents were controlling her college choices, who knew what else they would try and take control of?

Jumping out of bed, she quickly changed into her workout clothes, dashed down the stairs and out the front door. Instead of going to the family gym like she normally did, Abby decided to go for a run on the paths in the woods that surrounded the cabin; she needed to clear her head and she knew that if she ran in the gym, there was a good possibility that one of her parents would join her and if that happened, she didn't know if she would be able to hold her tongue.

Dave awoke to the sound of the front door of the cabin closing and he assumed his daughter was up and about. As he felt for his wife next to him, he found that Abby was not the only one in the house who was having trouble sleeping this morning. As he listened to the shower run, he replayed the previous evening's argument in his head. While he believed that his and JJ's stance on the matter was justified, he regretted that he'd pretty much called Abby a coward at the end of the night.

As he got up, he realized that while he still felt anger towards his daughter for the sneaky and underhanded way she'd both applied and withheld the knowledge of her acceptance to UCB from them, another part was conflicted about the way they'd decided her future for her. After all, wasn't that what he'd done by going to Columbia for his first year of college? He'd gotten into schools in DC, but he'd wanted a new experience and if his father hadn't died, he probably would have remained there. Did he really want to deny his daughter that same opportunity? Sure, she'd gotten into to schools in New York, but he knew she would never really be comfortable in that city, not with all of the memories the place held for her. Was UCB _her_ Columbia?

Yet another part of him felt sadness, sadness over the simple fact that Abby wanted to leave them at all. From the moment he met her, he'd hoped she would consider living at home during college, and his reason for wanting that was purely selfish; he wanted more than just a few years with her. He should have had eighteen years with her, but he'd only had two and he wanted many, many more. He knew instinctually that if the events of early spring hadn't transpired, she probably wouldn't be as eager to move across the country to attend school, and deep down he really couldn't fault her for that. With a deep sigh, he began to get ready for the day ahead with his wife at the BAU.

As she turned off the shower, JJ could hear her husband getting ready in the master bedroom and it brought a smile to her face; while she usually hated his protectiveness, today she wanted to be near him, she wanted to be reassured of the decision they'd made last night regarding their daughter's higher education. It was rare that Abby could anger her the way she had the previous night, but the way she blindsided them last night with her acceptance to UCB had thrown JJ for a total loop and she'd responded in anger. Just when she'd thought everything was settled, just when they had finally gotten their lives back, she was nearly recovered from her gunshot wound and everyone was doing pretty well, Abby had thrown their lives into chaos again, and this time she wanted to leave them! Her baby, the one person she'd sacrificed everything for, wanted to move across the country without looking back. What in the hell was she supposed to think about that? It felt like a slap in the face to JJ that her daughter wanted to move so far away from her.

It wasn't that JJ didn't think Abby could handle living three thousand miles away from them; it was that she didn't think she was ready for it, not after all she had gone through earlier in the spring. JJ didn't want Abby to move out there and then realize she'd made a mistake. Something like that could set her emotional recovery back by months, if not years and JJ didn't want her daughter to suffer like that. Also, if Abby couldn't handle it out in California, it could also ruin her academic life, or at least put a big ding in it. JJ knew Abby planned on eventually attending law school and she didn't want a decision she made at eighteen to affect the rest of her life. With a sigh, she realized she somehow had to convey that to Abby the decisions she made now would be with her for the rest of her life and she needed firm guidance in making those decisions.

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An hour later, Abby returned to the cabin and entered the kitchen. Both of her parents were there; her dad was reading the newspaper at the breakfast bar and her mom was making a lunch for her to take to school. Without a word, Abby walked over to the refrigerator and poured herself a glass of cold water, glaring at her parents the entire time.

JJ, who wanted to start the day out on the right foot, asked in a normal tone of voice, "Do you want ham or turkey in your sandwich, Abby?"

Abby feigned surprise, "You mean you're going to let me make this decision?" She asked sarcastically, "Gosh, I don't know if I'm mature enough for that, maybe you and dad had better decide what I should have for lunch. You know, like you do everything else."

JJ sighed as she reached for the mayo, "Do you really want to start this early in the morning? Your father and I made our decision and we're not going to change it."

Abby refilled her water glass. "I feel like I'm living under Grandfather Jareau's rule again," she mumbled as she took a drink.

JJ paused in her sandwich making, and narrowed her eyes at her daughter. "What did you just say?" She didn't yell her question, but Abby could hear the fury in her words. On any other day, Abby's sense of self-preservation would have kicked in and she would have kept quiet, but today was not a normal day; she was still angry at her parents and that overrode her inner voice that told her to shut up.

"I _said_, it feels like I'm living under Grandfather Jareau's rule again! He controlled you with his money and now you're doing the exact same thing to me!" Abby said boldly.

JJ slammed the half made sandwich down on the counter. "If you were a few years younger, I would take you over my knee for that remark!"

Abby's eyes widened, her mother had never even _threatened _physical discipline before; in fact, it was one of her cardinal rules while she was growing up. Abby knew she'd really pissed her off with what she'd said, but she was also angry and it was the anger that kept her mouth running. "The truth hurts, doesn't it mom?" She asked rhetorically, as she jutted out her lower jaw defiantly.

"Not as much as your ass will if you _ever,_ EVER compare me to my father again!" JJ snarled through clenched teeth.

Dave, who had been watching their exchange in silence, finally jumped in. "Okay, that's enough; we can talk more about this later tonight. Abby, go get ready for school, we're leaving in forty-five minutes."

"I _know_ when I have to leave for school, dad, unless you're going to dictate _that_ to me as well," Abby snapped.

Her dad took a deep breath and tried to hold back his anger, "Actually, I _do_ need to tell you, since you're riding in with us for the rest of the week."

"What? Why?" the teen asked, as the thought of a half-hour car ride with her parents made her almost physically ill. After the argument the previous night, she would rather ride in a car full of rattle snakes than with her parents.

"Because you're grounded, that's why," Dave responded.

"Grounded? For what?" Abby asked indignantly.

"Do you really have to ask?" Dave wondered. He saw the confused look on his daughter's face and clarified the reasons she was being grounded. "How about for forging our names on your application to UC Berkeley? Maybe for lying to us for the past month about being accepted to UCB? How about for your attitude last night? Take your pick, Abby!" He expected an argument from her, but she just turned on her heel and started for the stairs, mumbling angrily the entire way.

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The Rossi family rode to Quantico in a tense silence. Once they arrived at the FBI building, Abby silently stalked from the car up to the Metro stop, not giving her parents a backwards glance. Watching her go, JJ sighed and slipped her hand into her husband's and they made their way into the building and into the BAU headquarters. After parting with a kiss, Dave went to his office and JJ made her way to her own. Ten minutes later, there was a knock on her door.

"Come in," she called out. Her door opened and Hotch stormed in, looking extremely agitated.

"I can't believe this is happening, after the plans we made for college!" He said as he sat down in one of the chairs across from her desk.

JJ was surprised Hotch knew, she'd only learned about Abby's acceptance the night before. "I know! After all we've done, to have it thrown back in our faces like that!" A large part of her was happy that her boss was reacting the way he was, it made her feel better about her own reaction to her daughter's news.

"It's just shocking! I was totally blindsided by the news; there was NO warning! Talk about throwing your life away!" Hotch ranted.

JJ's brow furrowed, "That's a bit strong, don't you think? Sure it was a surprise and I think it's a mistake, but I think 'throwing your life away' is a bit melodramatic." While she didn't agree with her daughter wanting to go to UCB, she wouldn't classify it as a catastrophic mistake. "How did you find out about it anyway? Did Jack tell you?"

Hotch wore an exasperated look on his face, "Of course Jack told me, how else would I have found out?" When he entered her office, he'd hoped and expected that JJ would be on his side about this, especially since his girlfriend was falling more on his son's side. He was gratified that JJ seemed to be with him on it, but how could she not see this as a life changing mistake? He hoped to win her fully to his side and then have her help him convince Jack to go to Georgetown in the fall.

"Well I don't know," JJ said defensively. The absolute _last_ thing she needed was for another person to give her attitude. "You and Abby are still pretty close; I thought maybe she would have told you!"

"Why in the hell would Abby have told me about it? Do you think that was the plan? For Abby to tell me about it instead of Jack?" Hotch asked, getting even more pissed off at the thought of his son having his girlfriend do his dirty work for him.

"How in the hell should I know, Hotch? It seems like I barely know _anything _that's going on in my daughter's life lately!" Realizing she'd just snapped at her boss, JJ backpedaled a little. "Sorry Hotch, after dealing with everything from last night, I didn't get much sleep."

He waved his hand as if to dismiss her little outburst, "Why would you have to deal with this?" He asked confused and then a light bulb went on in his brain, "JJ, I think we're talking about two different things. What are you referring to?"

JJ seemed just as confused as he was, "I'm talking about Abby being accepted at the University of California at Berkeley. What are _you_ talking about?"

"CALIFORNIA?" Hotch yelled, sitting bolt upright in his chair. "She wants to go to school in California?" JJ nodded. "I thought she was set on going to Georgetown!" Hotch said, both shocked and angered by the deception from both kids.

"Dave and I thought so too, but she broke the news to us last night. Of course we said no and now she's not talking to us," she told him.

Hotch shook his head, "What is wrong with our kids?"

"Why?" JJ asked, "What did Jack do?"

Hotch sighed angrily, "He told me he's not going to college at _all_ next fall. Instead, he's going to roam around the country so that he can find himself and so he can have a year of different experiences before joining the adult world."

"Jesus," JJ said shocked, as she sat back in her chair. At that moment she realized it could've been much worse with Abby, at least she was still planning on going to college in the fall, albeit a college that was three thousand miles from home, but still. "God Hotch, what did you say?"

"I put my foot down! But then, after he listed all of my shortcomings as a father, he informed me that he would be using the money his grandparents left him in order to finance his year of doing God knows what!"

"What are you going to do?" JJ asked. At least she and Dave had a say in where Abby went to school since they were paying for it, but it seemed like there wasn't much Hotch could do.

"I'm going to constantly let him know that taking a year off is NOT an option! He'll listen right? He has to listen!" The man sounded desperate, so JJ tried to reassure him.

"Of course he'll listen, and it won't just be you telling him that; both Dave and I will also back you up on this and we'll make him listen to reason."

Hotch let out a breath, "Thanks JJ, I knew I could count on you to be on my side."

"Of course," JJ told him, "Just like you're on my side about California."

Hotch nodded, "There is no need for her to go all the way to California when she was accepted to many schools closer to home. You guys planned on Georgetown and that's where she should go." There was silence for a minute and then he continued, "What is wrong with our kids? Seriously, were they both taken over by pod people? Why would they decide to fuck up their lives this close to graduation?"

"I don't know," JJ said tiredly.

"I take it you've addressed the issue of Abby sitting on her acceptance letter for so long?"

"We have. Let's just say she'll be taking public transportation for awhile, not that she'll be going anywhere except here, home and school."

"You grounded her?" Hotch asked and JJ nodded. "How did she take that? Did she try to pull the 'I'm eighteen and you can't ground me' card like Jack did?"

"Not yet, although I'm sure I can expect that in the near future. Plus, she's not just being grounded for lying to us about her acceptances. She also forged our signatures on the application to Berkeley."

"WHAT?" Hotch roared, wanting to strangle both his son and his pseudo niece at the same time. "She forged the signatures of two federal agents? She knows that's against the law, right?"

"She does now," JJ told him. "Dave made that very clear to her last night."

"How's Dave taking this?" Hotch asked, knowing that his friend had to be just as worked up as his wife was.

"The same as I am, if not worse. He can't believe that _his_ daughter wants to attend one of the most liberal colleges in the country."

Hotch shook his head as he sat back in his chair, "How in the hell did it come to this? What are we going to do?"

"We're going to stand firm in our decisions," JJ told him in a no-nonsense tone of voice. "It might get dicey for awhile, but we have to stay strong. Eventually they'll thank us for it."

"Right," Hotch agreed, "It will all work out."


	92. Chapter 93

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 93

**~Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last couple of chapters! I haven't had time to personally respond back to everyone, but I really appreciate them...they're what keep me motivated!**

**~I'm out of printer ink, so my editing and proofreading were done via computer...sorry for any typos.**

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By three thirty that afternoon, Dave felt like he had run an emotional marathon. He'd listened to his wife and his best friend bitch about the kids and their plans for the future all day and while he agreed with most of what they'd said, it was beginning to get a little old. Did he think the kids were each making a big mistake? Yes, but he began doubting their heavy-handedness when it came to their reaction about Abby's news. As much as he hated to admit it, she wasn't a child anymore, she was an adult and a small part of him wondered if they should be making this decision for her. He knew he would have been pissed as hell if his own parents had made major life decisions for him at that age and, since she was his daughter, he really shouldn't be surprised that Abby was taking their actions so hard.

While he recognized her adult status, another part of him wondered whether she was capable of making this type of choice. After all that she'd been through in the past few months, he wasn't sure if she was emotionally ready to move away from everything and everyone she knew. If she made the move and then bombed at UC Berkeley, it would not only hurt her academic career, but it would drastically lower her self-esteem and confidence and he wasn't sure she could handle those hits, especially now when she was working so hard to get back to who she was before the shootings and the attacks. It was a catch-22 scenario; if they let her go to Berkeley and she failed, it would hurt her, but if they made her stay at home, she might end up resenting them for the rest of her life. For the first time in a long time, he didn't know what to do. Since he couldn't concentrate on the files in front of him, he sat back in his chair, rubbed his tired eyes and thought back to his encounter with Garcia earlier in the day.

As soon as he'd had a free minute, between various consults and phone calls, Dave strode down to Garcia's lair. Pausing in front of the closed door, he took a deep breath and mentally counted to ten. He was pissed as hell at the techno Goddess for keeping his daughter's acceptance to Berkeley a secret for nearly two months, but he knew he couldn't rage at the woman for too long. First, he considered the quirky blonde a friend and he didn't want to ruin that friendship, and second, he knew Penelope could kill him in a matter of seconds and she didn't need a gun to do it with, her keyboard would suffice just fine. Taking another deep breath, he knocked on her door.

"Permission to enter the Queen's lair is granted, mere mortal," she called out and smiled when the older profiler entered the room. Before he'd dropped to consultant status, they used to hang out in her office on a regular basis as they worked cases from headquarters while the rest of the team was out in the field. As a result, she considered Rossi to be a friend and she missed their chats while they waited for contact from the rest of the team. Her smile dropped when she saw the barely concealed look of anger on Dave's face.

"What's wrong, sir?" She asked as she mentally reviewed her actions of the past few days. Nope, she hadn't done anything that would piss him or JJ off.

"Berkeley, Garcia?" He asked and saw the confusion in her eyes. As she thought about it, the look of confusion turned to one of understanding and she realized Abby must have told her parents about her acceptance and they must have found out that she'd used her apartment as the mailing address.

Dave saw the look of dawning come into her eyes and some of the anger he'd pushed down came bubbling up to the surface. "Goddammit Penelope! What were you thinking? How could you keep something like that a secret from us? We're your friends; don't you think we deserved a head's up that our daughter was applying to a school that's three thousand miles away from home?"

"I may be your friend, and JJ's friend, but I'm also Abby's friend and she came to me for help. What was I supposed to do?"

"You were supposed to be a responsible adult and tell her NO!" Dave roared. "You were supposed to remind her to be honest and up front with us! You were supposed to remind her that she needed us to sign the forms, not help her forge our signatures!" Up until that point he wasn't sure if Garcia knew about the forgery, but the guilty look on her face told him she was aware of the transgression. "Dammit, you KNEW! You knew about the forgery! That was a federal offense she committed, not to mention its just plain WRONG! Jesus Penelope, the way you handled this was so goddamned irresponsible, so half-assed! You're the adult for Christ's sake! You're supposed to look out for her, you're supposed to guide her and let her know when she's doing something that's incredibly stupid!"

Garcia had heard enough, "Wait just a freaking minute, Agent Rossi! I WAS looking out for her! She came to me for help and I gave it to her! Do I think her application to Berkeley was a mistake? No! She laid out her reasons for applying and I didn't see anything wrong with _any_ of them, so I told her she could use my mailing address! She didn't think she would get in and she was trying to prevent an argument with you and JJ. Was the forgery wrong? Maybe, but in the whole scheme of things, I don't think its earth shattering!"

"I beg to differ-" Dave tried interrupting, but Penelope would have none of it.

"No, Agent Rossi," she said, wagging a brightly painted finger in his face, "It's my turn now! I _did _guide her in this, I advised her to let you and JJ in on her choice to apply to UCB, but I ultimately left the decision up to her because she's an ADULT! And don't you EVER accuse me of acting irresponsibly with her again! I've known her a lot longer than you have, sir, and I took care of her most of the times JJ had to go out of town on cases. All I've ever had is her best interest at heart, so don't you DARE come in here and accuse me of not watching out for her!" Penelope was breathing hard at the end of her loud tirade and she wondered if she'd gone too far with the older agent, but she found that she didn't care; someone needed to be on Abby's side and she knew from Dave's reaction that her parents weren't.

She continued, softer this time, "Are you really mad at me for keeping Abby's secret, or are you upset that she wants to leave you in the first place?"

Dave exhaled loudly, "Both," he told her, somewhat deflated.

Garcia nodded, "That's fair enough, but you need to get over it, and soon. She's eighteen, sir, do you want her to do something really stupid in order to prove her independence?"

"You may have a point, but right now I think all of us need to take a deep breath and think about things for a little while," he told her, his anger spent. "I'm sorry I yelled at you," he said stiffly, still a bit miffed at her for helping Abby.

Penelope smiled, but the smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "Everyone gets one free one, sir. One. Capisce?" She said, her meaning clear.

"I got it Garcia," he said and then he got up and left the technological lair, a little afraid of the havoc the quirky woman could wreak on his life if there was ever a second incident.

He was pulled from his reverie when he saw his daughter standing in the doorway to his office. He sat forward in his chair, glanced at the clock on his desk and saw that it read 3:55pm, she had just made it.

"Hi Pumpkin, come on in," he said in a normal tone of voice, as though nothing was wrong. Abby just looked at him and silently entered his office. She sat down on the couch across from his desk and began making a nest with her schoolwork.

"Is your mom not in her office?" He asked.

Abby shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, I came here first," she said coolly.

"Really?" Abby always went to JJ's office first and Dave felt slightly honored that he'd been her first stop.

Abby nodded as she reached into her book bag for her laptop, "You're the lesser of two evils," she muttered.

Dave heard it and wasn't sure if he should be offended or pleased. "How was your day?"

"Fine," Abby said, still coolly and still not looking at him.

"Did anything interesting happen at school?" He asked and was surprised when she looked up at him.

"You know what dad? Don't," she said snippily. "Don't pretend that everything is fine between us. Don't act like you and mom aren't trying to take total control over my entire life. I am still really pissed and if I talk to you or mom right now, I'll only end up getting into more trouble, so can we _please_ sit here in silence?"

Feeling his own mood begin to worsen, Dave nodded. "Fine." They stayed like that for nearly half an hour, with Abby working on her laptop and Dave working on paperwork.

The silence was broken by a knock on Dave's open door, "Hey Dave, can you sit in on a telephone consult with me?" Hotch asked. "It's the case in Dallas. You're up to speed on it and Dallas PD is getting desperate."

"Sure Hotch, when is it?"

The younger profiler glanced at his watch, "In about five minutes," he said.

Dave got up from his desk chair, "Will you be okay?" He asked his daughter. Abby didn't even look up from her computer as she nodded. "I'll meet you in the conference room, Aaron; I gotta hit the head before the call," Dave told him as he stepped out of his office.

"That's fine, Dave," Hotch said as he stepped aside so the other man could get past him. He waited a moment and then stepped back into the office. "California?" He asked as he raised one eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest.

Abby sighed as she looked up from her laptop, "Please don't start with me, Uncle Aaron; I heard it all from my parents last night." She tried to keep her tone neutral, but there was definite annoyance and anger in her voice, and the profiler picked up on it.

"Don't start with you? You want me to just sit back while you make a huge mistake?" He asked incredulously. "What kind of education can you get in California that you can't get right here at home?"

Abby was about to respond, when one of the unit's secretaries approached her uncle. "Excuse me, sir?" She asked.

"What is it Amy?" Hotch responded, still glaring at his niece.

"Dallas PD is waiting on the line for you in the conference room," she said timidly, correctly reading the tension between him and the teenager on the sofa.

"I'll be right there," he told her and the young secretary quickly walked back down the hallway. "To be continued," he said ominously to Abby.

"Looking forward t it," she called out sarcastically to his retreating back. Once her uncle was gone, she picked up her history textbook and began reading again. Ten minutes later she stopped when she heard someone else in the doorway to the office.

She looked up, "Hi Emily, my dad's in a meeting with Uncle Aaron."

"I wasn't looking for him, I was looking for you," she told her.

Abby groaned, "Please tell me you're not here to come down on me or lecture me," she practically begged. "I heard it all last night and this morning and your boyfriend was about to read me the riot act before he got pulled into a conference call."

Emily shook her head as she came into the office and sat down on the other end of the sofa, "Actually, I wanted to congratulate you on your acceptance to Berkeley; it's a difficult school to get into and you should be proud of yourself."

A smile broke out across Abby's face "Thanks Emily, I _am_ pretty proud of myself. When I applied, I did it on a whim; I didn't think I had a chance in _hell_ of actually getting in!"

"Is that why you didn't tell your parents?"

Abby nodded, "I figured why get them all worked up when it was most likely a wasted exercise? I was shocked when Penelope brought me the acceptance."

"That was a smart move, it probably saved you some major hassles," Emily told her.

"So…so you're not here to tell me I'm making a big mistake? That I'm not ready to be so far away from home? You're not going to scream at me for keeping it a secret?"

Emily shook her head, "No, this is your life and it's your decision. Can I see where your parents are coming from? Yes, but just because they don't want to let you go doesn't mean you should put your life on hold. Eventually you have to do what you think is best."

"Too bad my parents don't think that," Abby said. "They told me they wouldn't pay for me to go to Berkeley."

"It sucks that they're using money to try and control you, believe me, I know how that feels; there's a reason I HAD to go to Yale for college," the older woman told her. "I also know how it feels to make a decision that the rest of your family thinks is a huge mistake. You can imagine how the rest of the Prentiss family felt about me joining the FBI."

"Yeah, I guess you do know how I feel," Abby murmured.

"I can't tell you how to convince your parents to let you go to Berkeley if that's what you really want, but if you ever need someone to talk to, you can _always _call me…that is, if I'm not busy keeping Aaron from killing Jack," Emily said with a wry smile.

"Jack told me that Uncle Aaron didn't take his news too well," Abby said.

"Not at all," Emily said as her cell phone began to ring. "I have to take this," she said, getting up from the sofa. "Just remember that your parents love you and are looking out for you; give them a little time and they might come around," she said as she left the room.

Abby doubted they would, but she appreciated Emily's advice; she felt better knowing there was at least one person on her side.


	93. Chapter 94

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 94

**~This might be it until after the weekend. I have relatives coming into town and I'll be pretty busy with them...although, they may end up driving me insane enough where I'll lock myself in my bedroom for a few hours. It could go either way.**

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Early the next morning, JJ awoke from an uneasy sleep and tried to recall what had pulled her from her slumber. She didn't feel well-rested as she never slept well while she was arguing with her daughter and waking up at four forty-five in the morning didn't help matters. She was just about to try dozing back off when she heard whimpering. Sitting up in bed, she listened hard and heard it again. This time it was louder and it was accompanied by a voice calling out, "No!"

She quickly got out of bed, left the master bedroom and entered her daughter's bedroom without knocking. She turned the light on and saw her daughter thrashing around on the bed, as if struggling against an invisible intruder.

"No, please no," she begged as tears poured out of her closed eyes. JJ quickly crossed the room and sat down on the bed. She put her hands firmly onto Abby's shoulders and shook her, "Wake up, Abby!" She commanded, but Abby kept struggling.

"No, no, NO!" She screamed the last word and the volume of her own voice, combined with JJ's firm hands on her shoulders, caused her to wake with a gasp.

She sat bolt upright in bed and threw her arms around her mother. JJ, who returned the hug, could feel her daughter trembling in her arms.

"It was so real!" she exclaimed. While her nightmares had gotten better, she still experienced them at least twice a week.

"It's okay, honey," JJ soothed as she kept her daughter in her arms and smoothed down her hair. By then, Dave had entered the room and was sitting next to JJ on the bed. "Is she alright?" He asked.

JJ nodded, "It was just a bad dream," she told him.

After another minute of feeling safe in her mother's arms, everything came flooding back to Abby and she remembered that she was angry with both of her parents. She abruptly pulled out of her mother's hug and sat against her headboard. She folded her arms across her chest so neither of her parents could pull her back into a hug. "I'm fine," she said coolly, "You both can go back to bed now."

JJ sighed, "So we're back to the attitude, are we?"

"Have you changed your mind about Berkeley?" Abby asked tersely.

"No," JJ responded.

"Then yeah, we're back to the attitude," Abby told her as she got off the bed.

"Where are you going?" JJ asked, noting that it was still before five in the morning.

"There's no way I'm going back to sleep, so I thought I would go for an early morning run," she told her.

"Would you mind some company?" Dave asked. While he normally go on morning runs, their time in confinement at the cabin had taken it's toll on him and he was working on getting back into shape. Plus, he knew Abby was pissed at them, but he wanted to spend some time with her, even if she wasn't talking to him.

"Yeah dad, actually I _would _mind it. I want to be alone, I don't need you or mom coming with me and pounding it into my brain that I'm too immature or emotionally damaged to decide things for myself."

"Fine Abby," JJ said resignedly, "Just don't go running in the woods this early in the morning; stay in the gym."

Hearing her mother's order, Abby nodded and made her way to her bathroom, "I wonder if either of them are ever happy unless they're telling me what to do," she mumbled under her breath before she shut the door.

Both JJ and Dave heard her mutterings and frowned simultaneously, "We need to talk to her about this more," Dave said. "Maybe we should all go out for dinner tonight; we need to be in a place where our emotions can't get the best of us and we can discuss this calmly and rationally."

JJ snorted, "And you think our daughter won't make a scene at a restaurant? Do you know her at all?" Dave wanted to tell his wife that he wasn't entirely sure _she_ wouldn't make a scene at a restaurant, but he wisely kept that comment to himself. "Besides, I'm not about to reward her for her abhorrent behavior; she's acting like a child."

"Well why the hell shouldn't I act like a child?" Abby asked as she stepped out of her bathroom. She'd caught the last part of her mother's mini-rant and took offense. "You and dad still see me as a child, you still treat me like a child, so why shouldn't I act like one?" JJ was about to shoot back an answer, but Abby didn't let her. "Now, if you don't mind, I would like to get dressed. Please leave."

Not wanting to argue in the early morning hours, JJ and Dave left Abby's room and hoped that a run in the gym would improve her mood.

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Six hours later, Dave began wondering if he would ever want to return to the Bureau full-time. While that had been his plan for after Abby went to college, after dealing with the never-ending pile of consults, the phone that had been ringing off the hook and the endless bureaucratic bullshit, Dave thought he might be content to stay on as a consultant until he retired a second time. Just as he was about to start yet _another_ consult, there was a knock at his door.

"Come in," he called out, praying it wasn't a member of the team asking for his help with a case. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was Ed, one of the security guards. "What can I do for you, Ed?"

"Agent Rossi, there is a young lady out here who would like to talk to you, she says she knows you. She showed up at the reception desk and she was quite insistent on seeing you," he told the legendary agent.

"Okay," Rossi said, his brow furrowing, "You can let her in." Ed stepped aside and Abby's friend Rebecca stepped through the doorway. "Becca! Is everything all right? Did something happen to Abby?" He felt his heart leap into his throat with worry as he shot to his feet, but was relieved when the young woman shook her head.

"So you know this girl, Agent Rossi?" The guard asked.

Dave nodded, "I've got it from here Ed, thanks." The security guard left, closing the door behind him. Once he was gone, Dave turned his full attention towards the girl standing in front of him. "What are you doing here Becca, shouldn't you be in school?"

"I had an orthodontist appointment and on the way back into the city, I decided to stop by and talk to you. Is JJ around?" She asked.

Dave shook his head, "She and Aaron are in a meeting right now," he said as he gestured for her to take a seat.

"I'll have to talk to her later, along with Mr. Hotchner," the teen muttered as she sat down in one of the chairs in front of Dave's desk.

Dave went around the desk and sat in his normal seat. He leaned forward and nailed the girl with a penetrating gaze. "Why are you here, Rebecca?" He asked, "Are you in some kind of trouble? Do you need our help?"

Becca shook her head, "I'm here to talk to you about Abby," she told him.

"What about Abby? Is she in trouble?" Rossi asked, his worry over his daughter increasing once again.

"No sir, she's not, she just…" Becca trailed off as if to collect her thoughts and then started again. "Agent Rossi, you know that I have the utmost respect for you and JJ. I've known JJ and Abby for eight years and in that time, they've made me feel like I was a part of the family; plus, Abby is my best friend."

"I know that Becca," Dave replied, wondering where this was going.

"You've also made me feel welcome, and I've seen how much happier Abby has been with you in her life these past two years," Becca continued.

"I've been happy to be in her life," Dave said cautiously.

"That being said, sir, I have to ask; have you and JJ lost your minds?" She asked.

"Excuse me?" He hadn't been expecting that to come out of the normally polite girl's mouth.

Before she could answer, there was another knock on his door. "Come in," he called out again, wondering when his office had turned into Grand Central Station.

The door opened and Ed stepped in once again, "Sorry sir, but there's another woman out here insisting on speaking to you." The guard didn't get a chance to move aside before a grey blur barreled past him.

"Ma! What are you doing here?" Dave asked, but he had a sneaking suspicion as to why she was there. Between her and the teen sitting in front of him, he knew he would be lucky to make it out of his office alive.

"You know her, Agent Rossi?" Ed asked again and Dave nodded, "Well I'll just leave you three to it then, good luck sir." The guard said that last part under his breath.

"I'm here to talk to you about my granddaughter, David," she said firmly as she came further into the office and sat down in the chair next to Becca. "But it looks like someone has beaten me to the punch," she said warmly as she looked at the teen sitting next to her. "Hello Becca, are you here to talk to my son about Abby and her acceptance to UC Berkeley?"

"You KNOW about it?" Dave asked incredulously.

Marie nodded, "Of course I do, she needed an adult to confide in."

"And you never thought to tell me? Or Jen?"

"Davie, there are probably many things I know about your daughter that you don't; get over it!" Marie ordered. "Besides, you should be happy she told me since I'm the one who ultimately ordered her to tell _you _about it. If it weren't for me, you would've probably found out as she was packing her car to move."

The room became quiet as Dave thought about that. Finally, the silence became overwhelming, and Dave spoke up. "Okay, let me have it, you both are here to read me the riot act, so let's go."

Both Marie and Becca looked at each other, wondering who should start. Finally, Marie said, "Go ahead honey, you were here first."

"Thanks Mrs. Rossi…sorry, Nonna," she amended when she saw the woman's raised eyebrow. The teen took a deep breath and began. "Agent Rossi, I don't think you realize just how hard the past couple of months have been for Abby."

"I think I'm well aware of that, Rebecca," he said tightly.

"With all due respect, sir," Becca said snippily, "I don't think you are. Abby and I are best friends and she tells me more than she does you. The attacks against all of you were bad enough; she had to fight to get past those and I think she came out of it really well. No, the worst part of it for her was seeing both of you get shot. In a matter of seconds, she had her sense of security ripped away from her…she literally watched her worst nightmare play out on live television. And even after all of that, she managed to still get A's in all of her subjects, and do you know why she did that, sir?"

"Why Becca?"

"Because she wanted you and JJ to be proud of her," Becca told him. "Even after you entered her life and she no longer had to worry about getting a scholarship for college, she still worked her ass off because she wanted yours and JJ's respect and, no offense sir, you and your wife blew that to hell and back with your reaction to her college choice!" Becca was now getting even more pissed off for her friend and it was coming through in her speech. "

Marie jumped in, "Your daughter agonized over her decision, Davie, it kept her up at night and it's taken away some of her excitement over graduation."

"And she hasn't even decided where she wants to go, that's part of the reason she finally told you and JJ, she wants your guidance in this! Although after the way you and your wife flew off the handle about it, my guess is that she'll choose UC Berkeley out of spite!"

"I highly doubt that, Becca," Dave said. "Abby is an intelligent girl and she wouldn't jeopardize her future just to get back at her mother and I."

Both Becca and Marie snorted in unison, "You really don't know anything about teens, do you sir? Especially teenage girls! All your control is doing is pushing Abby away. She told me she feels trapped here, like she'll never fully be able to grow up! She wants new experiences, just like any kid, just like me!"

"Just like I did!" Marie said, jumping into the conversation, "Why do you think I came to the US, Davie? I wanted to experience something totally different and so does your daughter...and so did you! If I recall correctly, you didn't choose a college in DC, you chose one in New York and I'm sure if your father hadn't died, you would have remained there until you graduated."

"All that is bad enough, sir, but when you called her a coward, you tore her heart apart," Becca said softly.

As soon as the words were out of the girl's mouth, Dave sighed and closed his eyes. He knew his mother would be furious at him and he tried to brace himself for the verbal onslaught he knew was coming. He didn't have to wait long.

"You called her a coward?" Marie screeched, giving Garcia a run for her money in both pitch and volume. "That brave, sweet girl? That girl who has had to endure more than any person should ever have to in a lifetime? How on God's green earth could you have done that? What is WRONG with you?"

"It broke her heart, Agent Rossi," Becca reiterated. "The Abby I saw yesterday was like the Abby when she first returned to school after everything this spring; timid and unsure of herself. She told me all she wants to do is make you and JJ proud and you ripped that away from her."

Dave felt like a royal ass. "I don't know why I said that, I regretted it the moment it came out of my mouth but I didn't know how to take it back. Of course she's not a coward; she's one of the bravest people I know!" He told them. "But Becca, I don't agree with you that Abby will turn destructive simply out of spite. She's an intelligent girl with a good head on her shoulders and she won't just throw everything away just to get back at us."

Becca shook her head, "Did you know she's giving serious thought to running off with Jack after graduation?"

Dave paled, "What?" He nearly whispered.

Becca nodded, "She's thinking about ditching the entire idea of college if she can't make her own choices. Abby's used to living on a tight budget, she's used to getting by on very little and she could easily do that with Jack."

"Is that what you want, Davie?" Marie asked. "After what the three of you went through in the past two months, do you really want her to leave here on bad terms? Don't you see that by keeping her here against her will, you and JJ are driving her further away from you!"

Dave finally grasped the magnitude of what was happening with his daughter. Up until then, he'd seen the situation as something that would blow over, but now he realized that if they didn't let her decide her future, they could lose her forever and that idea scared the hell out of him. "I'll talk to her," he promised. "I'll apologize for the coward comment and I'll keep an open mind-" Marie snorted at that and tried to cover it with a cough, but Dave let it go. "I'll also arrange something so we can talk to both kids. I can't promise anything will change, especially since JJ and Hotch are both still fit to be tied, but we'll at least hear both of them out. I don't want to drive Abby away from us and I know that Hotch doesn't want to lose his son."

Marie and Becca looked at each other and finally nodded, "I guess that's the best we can ask for," Marie said as she stood up. "We'll let you get back to work, Davie."

Becca also stood and followed Marie to the door. Before stepping out of the office, she turned back towards Dave and said, "Abby has last period free today and instead of studying in the library, she's planning on taking the Metro to the stop closest to the cabin and then she was going to walk home."

"Thanks Becca, not just for that, but for looking out for Abby; you're a good friend," Dave told her.

"Thanks sir, and despite everything, you're a good dad; Abby's been so much happier since you've come into her life."

Dave smiled as the two women left his office. Once he was alone, he looked at the clock and realized there were only a few hours until Abby got out of school and he had no idea what to say that would make the situation better.


	94. Chapter 95

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 91

**~Ok, so it didn't take much for my family to drive me insane. Enjoy the new chapter!**

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Dave stepped through the front door of the cabin and frowned; it was two-thirty and, if what Becca had told him was true, then Abby should be home by now, but there was no indication that she was in the cabin. Like most teenagers, she felt the need to turn on every electronic appliance within a ten foot radius the moment she arrived home and leaving the room didn't necessarily mean the appliances would be turned off. That afternoon there was no music coming from her bedroom, he didn't hear her chattering away on her cell phone, there were no mouthwatering scents coming from the kitchen and the TV wasn't on. In other words, the cabin seemed deserted.

As he walked further into the house, he began to see the telltale signs that Abby had, in fact, arrived home from school. Her shoes had been kicked off haphazardly on the mat next to the door, her book bag had been dropped onto one of the sofas in the great room and, as he went up the stairs, he could see that her door was wide open and her school uniform lay on the floor where it had been discarded. As he went to his own room to change, he couldn't help but smile at the way his once neat and orderly life had been forever altered by the two blonde dynamos he currently shared his life with. As much as they tried, both Abby and JJ couldn't keep the house clean to save their lives. They gave it their best shot, as a concession to his neat-freak ways, but they constantly left things all over the cabin. There were times when it drove him nuts, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

Once he was comfortable in an old pair of jeans and an FBI t-shirt, he went back down to the first floor to search for his daughter. She wasn't on the porch swing, in the kitchen or out on the back deck, which were her favorite haunts, and he was beginning to get a little worried. He was about to call her cell phone when he noticed the quilt from the back of one of the sofas was missing. Recently, Abby had been going down to the creek when she needed to think about things and he was willing to bet a large sum of money that that's where she was.

Sure enough, when he arrived at the clearing by the creek fifteen minutes later, he found her sitting on the quilt under a tree. She was leaning back against the tree, reading a text book and listening to her iPod. As soon as his shadow came into her line of sight, she gave a loud gasp and jumped to her feet.

"Holy shit, dad! You scared the hell out of me!"

"Sorry Pumpkin, I didn't know you couldn't hear me," Dave told her.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Looking for you. Mind if I join you?" He asked, sitting down on the blanket.

Abby, who was still on her feet, nodded. "I _do_ mind, I really want to be alone right now."

"Tough, I want to talk to you," he said and then pointed to where she'd been reading. "Sit," he ordered.

With a loud, theatrical sigh, Abby sat down and glared at her father, "Do you want to talk to me, or do you want to continue dictating my life to me?"

"I want to _talk _to you," he reiterated.

"Okay, so talk," Abby said, not looking at him. Instead, she gazed out at the creek, hoping it would have a calming effect on her because if her dad had come there just to rip on her some more, she would seriously lose it.

Dave took a deep breath, "First, I want to apologize for calling you a coward. I was angry and I lashed out and I shouldn't have said it. Your situation is totally different from what mine was, and even if you were leaving to get away from all of the memories of the past couple of months, you still wouldn't be a coward, not after everything you went through." He thought his apology would put a smile on her face and he was surprised when she began crying.

"I've been trying to get over everything that happened; I can't help that it's taking awhile," she said through her tears.

Dave leaned over and tried putting his arms around her, but she blocked him. "No! You can't just hug me and make it all better this time, dad," she said, still crying. "I've been trying to be stronger, I've been trying to suck it up and face my fears! I've been sleeping in total darkness, even though it scares the hell out of me, I've been trying to be alone more, as evidenced by today and I've even tried going into the study! I can't help it that I still wake up with nightmares, but that doesn't make me a coward!" She wiped the last of the tears from her face; her hurt feelings were now turning into anger. "If you had listened to me at _all_ the other night, you would have known that I applied to UC Berkeley _before_ anything happened this spring! I don't want to leave because of that, I want to leave so I can try something new, so I can be independent!"

"I know that, honey-" Dave started to say, but Abby was on a roll and wouldn't let him get a word in edgewise.

"I'm not even sure if I want to go to Berkeley! I told you and mom about it because I felt bad keeping it from you and I was hoping you would help me with my choice. For once I was actually looking for your input and you both totally took over my life!" She said loudly.

"I know we did, Pumpkin, but you have to remember that you sprung this on us without warning!" Dave told her, trying not to match her volume. "We were under the assumption that you would be going to Georgetown in the fall and living here at home, and then you pulled the rug out from under us! We didn't know you were even _thinking _about a school on the west coast and it threw us for a huge loop. Could we have responded better? Yes, but you also could've told us about it sooner."

"You're right, I could have told you sooner," she admitted, "But I never thought you two would react as badly as you did and I _never _thought you would take complete control over my future!"

"Do you know us at all?" Dave asked with a slight smile on his face, trying to lighten the mood.

"This isn't funny, dad," Abby snapped, not appreciating his attempt at levity. "I've worked my ass off since kindergarten to get to this point in my life, and now that I'm almost at the finish line, you and mom are trying to take everything away from me!"

"We just want to make sure you don't jeopardize all that you've worked for," Dave told her, trying to keep his annoyance at bay. "Georgetown is a _really _good school and we don't want to see you go to an inferior school just so you can have a different kind of college experience."

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Abby said, frustrated. "UCB is a good school too! Georgetown is ranked #21 in the country and UC Berkeley is ranked #22! It's not like I want to go to some Mickey Mouse party school; UCB is competitive and it was an honor to get in!"

"I'm sorry Abby, I didn't know it was ranked so high," Dave said, surprised. He'd always thought of the school as one tiny step up from being a tree hugger commune.

"Well maybe you and mom should have looked over the information I gave you!" She shrieked and then realized she needed to calm down if she wanted her dad to take her seriously. "You know what the worst part of this whole thing is?"

"What?" Dave asked seriously.

"For the first time since I met you, I don't want to be here. Even after you left us and we came back here so I could recuperate, I still really liked the cabin itself and the woods surrounding it, even if _you_ weren't my favorite person in the world."

"Pumpkin-" Dave tried interrupting, but Abby kept talking.

"This spring, when we were stuck here and I was going crazy with cabin fever, this place was still soothing and comfortable. Heck, even after the shootings and that horrible night in the study, this place was still comfortable for me, but now I look around and I feel the walls closing in like they're smothering me. Now all I see is my prison for the next four years," she told him, still trying to keep her anger under control.

"Is that why you're thinking about running off with Jack after graduation?" Her dad asked quietly. He knew this part of the conversation needed to be handled delicately; one wrong word could push her further away from them and into Jack's arms.

Abby's eyes widened, "How do you know about _that_?"

Shit, he was trying to keep Becca's visit out of the conversation since he didn't know how his daughter would feel about her best friend coming to talk to him. Actually, he knew all too well how she would react and he knew it wouldn't be pretty, but it was out there and he needed to come clean.

"My mother and Becca came to see me today," he admitted.

"WHAT?" Abby yelled, "They came to talk to you about me?"

Dave nodded, "Between Becca pretty much calling me a shitty father and my mother's not-so-veiled threats, it was an interesting morning."

"I'll kill them! I told Becca that stuff in confidence and Nonna knows what's said between us stays between us! How many other times has she come to you about things I've told her?"

"This is the first, and probably only time. She was worried about you, Pumpkin, they both were."

"Still, they shouldn't have done it behind my back," she murmured, as she made a mental note to give both of them a piece of her mind sometime in the near future.

"I'm glad they did, they helped open my eyes to how unfair we're being towards you. My reaction to your news was purely selfish; I want more than three years with you, honey," he said gently. "You were almost sixteen when we met and I guess I hoped that if you went to Georgetown and lived here while you went to school, I wouldn't have to say goodbye to you so soon."

Abby's heart melted at his admission, "Even if I go to Berkeley, it's not like you're never going to see me again," she said softly. "There's email and the phone and I'm sure Garcia could even teach you how to teleconference."

"I know, but it won't be the same," he said with a sad smile.

"Yeah, but I'm not even sure I _want_ to go to Berkeley, I was just pissed that you and mom yanked the decision away from me."

They were quiet for a minute before she spoke again, "So, does this mean you're willing to entertain the idea of UC Berkeley?"

Dave thought for a moment and then nodded, "I'm willing to entertain the idea of you making your own decision about college, whether it's Georgetown, UC Berkeley or even clown school."

Abby's features lit up at that, "Oh my God, how awesome would that be?" She asked, laughing.

Dave smiled, "Focus Abby, it's going to take enough work to get your mother on board with this, let's not throw clown college at her."

The teen's smile faded, "That's right…has mom relented any?" She asked.

"Not that I know of," her dad told her and then watched as the look of desperation came back into her eyes. "I'm going to get Hotch and Jack out here for dinner tomorrow night so the five of us, well six since I'm also going to ask Emily over, can hash this out. I can't promise everything will work out the way you want it to, but this way everyone will get to have their say."

"Everyone?" She asked, "Because you and mom barely let me get a word in edgewise during our last 'discussion' and I really don't want to sit through that again."

"I'll make sure that Aaron and your mom let both of you kids say your piece, but you have to hear them out as well, okay?"

Abby nodded, "Okay." She felt better knowing that her dad was on her side…well, not on her side really, but at least he was willing to listen to what she had to say, and he apologized, which was a minor miracle.

They both sat in silence for another few minutes, until they heard a rumble of thunder in the distance.

"We'd better head back," Dave said as he got to his feet. "Otherwise we're going to get soaked."

Abby nodded her agreement as she gathered up her book and her iPod. Once she was standing, Dave bent down and picked up the blanket. When he straightened up, he found himself engulfed in an embrace. Hugging Abby back with his free arm, he asked, "What was that for?"

"Nothing…everything…just, thanks for at least thinking about it. Thanks for finally understanding that I need to choose my own path in life," she said softly.

xxxxxxxxxx

"How was your ride home?" Dave asked his wife as she got into the SUV. Because Dave had left the BAU in their SUV, JJ had taken the Metro to the stop that was closest to the cabin, but since it was still three miles from home, she'd called Dave to pick her up.

"Not too bad," she replied, "I always forget about all of the interesting people who ride the Metro."

Dave snorted, "You're not kidding," he said as he turned out of the pickup area.

JJ, who had been rummaging in her purse for some lip balm, looked up and frowned, "You're going the wrong way."

"No, I called in an order to the Chinese place in town and the food should be ready by now," he told her. The Metro stop was on the outskirts of a small DC suburb and it was the closest town to the cabin.

"Mmmm, that sounds heavenly."

They talked about JJ's day on the ride to the restaurant. Apparently, the camera crew was almost done with their follow up shots and she wouldn't be needed at the office after the next day. She was relieved since she could feel her energy level ebb with each passing day at the BAU. She kept having to remind herself that she had been shot two months ago and she needed to take it easy.

"I talked to Abby today," Dave said, once they were on their way back to the cabin. Since his wife had been busy all day with the camera crew, he hadn't been able to explain why he needed to leave early, only that he was taking the SUV.

JJ's eyebrows rose in surprise, "Really? She's talking to us now?"

"Well, at first it was like pulling teeth, but then she opened up to me."

"How did you manage that?"

"I apologized to her," Dave admitted.

JJ sharply blew out her breath, "You did what?"

Dave could hear the frustration in his wife's voice. "I apologized to her and I listened to what she had to say about our pronouncement over her future. Honey, I think this is a decision we need to let her make."

"So you're telling me that all our daughter had to do was shed some tears and the big, badass, FBI agent caved in?"

"I didn't 'cave in'," Dave said, annoyed. "I listened to what she had to say and it made sense. Besides, you weren't in my office today when my mother and Becca came to talk to me…actually, 'talk' isn't quite accurate, 'ream me out' is closer to the truth."

"Marie and Becca came to see you?" JJ asked, confused.

Dave nodded, "Yeah and you're lucky that you and Hotch were with the movie people all day, because they were looking for the two of you as well. I'll tell you Jen, if those two ever decided to team up on a larger scale, they could take over small countries. God help the world if Garcia joined the mix!" He gave a small shudder at the thought.

"I don't care if the president himself had come into your office, you don't just back down because someone tells you to!" JJ nearly screeched. "Now, when she doesn't get her way, I'm going to be the bitch. Thanks for that, Dave!"

"She's an adult, Jen, and she needs to make her own choices in life."

"I _know_ she's an adult, but she's…_we've_ worked too hard to let her throw her academic future down the drain! God, when I think back to all of the book reports, all of the science projects, all of the tests we stayed up late studying for. You have no idea what I went through to get her to this point in her life, you weren't there!"

"And whose fault was that?" Dave snapped. "Believe me, Jennifer, I would've _loved _to do all of that with her, but I didn't get the chance, did I?"

JJ didn't answer the question and neither of them spoke again until they turned onto the gravel road that led to the cabin. "We can't ignore this situation and hope it will work out, so I've invited Hotch, Jack and Emily over for dinner tomorrow. We need to talk this thing through, once and for all. And JJ? I promised Abby that both she and Jack would get a chance to speak and that you and Hotch would listen to them."

Sighing angrily as her husband pulled to a stop in front of their home, JJ said, "Alright Dave, I'll hear her out, but I highly doubt that I will change my mind." With that, she stormed out of the SUV and into the house. Dave followed behind her at a slower pace. Come hell or high water, they were going to settle this issue once and for all and he knew the grand finale blowout would take place the next night.


	95. Chapter 96

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 96

**~Real life is kicking my butt! I'm entering the homestretch in school and as a result my workload, research load and teaching load have all increased. That's why I haven't been posting as quickly as I usually do.**

**~Chapter 97 is written, all I have to do is edit it. I'll try and have it up later today, but it might be Sunday before I get it posted. Reviews might help me post it faster :-)**

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As she wearily rubbed her eyes, JJ glanced at the clock on her computer and sighed when she saw that it only read three o'clock; unfortunately, that was the second time that day she'd seen those numbers on a clock, the first being in the wee hours of the morning as she thought about the stalemate she had with her daughter. Her worries had kept her up and her husband's snoring wasn't helping her fall asleep. She'd resisted the urge to elbow him sharply in the ribs, but only barely since she was unbelievably irritated that he'd switched over to their daughter's side in, what she privately thought of as the Rossi Family Cold War. If she couldn't sleep because of the situation, then neither should he, but she knew that if she 'accidentally' woke him, they would inevitably discuss the situation and it would lead to another argument. In the end, she'd finally fallen asleep just as the first rays of light had begun dancing across the sky and she was exhausted because of it.

Surprisingly, she wished Dave was still at the BAU headquarters, because if he was, she would be able to leave early, but he'd left at noon in order to meet with his editor before going back to the cabin to prepare for the upcoming dinner/argument that night. Since Hotch was going to the cabin right from the BAU, she was catching a ride with him and she knew he wouldn't turn off his computer until exactly five o'clock. Heck, it would be a minor miracle if that actually happened. She knew it was more than likely that they wouldn't be leaving until closer to six.

She tipped her chair back and closed her eyes for a moment. Hotch. Her one remaining ally in this. They had stood by each other's sides during their kids moody pre-teen and teen years. She knew that he felt the exact same way as she did about Abby going to school across the country, and she felt the same way as he did about Jack taking a year off before going to college. It just wasn't going to happen. Period. And if Dave wanted to play the role of Benedict Arnold, then so be it, but she'd be damned if everything they'd worked for got screwed up at the last moment.

It was going to be interesting to see Dave and Aaron go up against each other. She knew that Dave would pull the 'I'm her father' card and Hotch would counter with his 'I was the closest thing to a father she had for six years' argument and they would both have a point. While Dave _was_ Abby's father and had been a loving and dutiful one since the first day he'd found out about her, he_hadn't _been there as long as Aaron had, he didn't know about all of the ways in which Hotch had filled in as a dad for their daughter and JJ thought he had a right to an opinion about Abby's future, just like she had the right to an opinion about Jack's future. She knew Dave was a little jealous…no, jealous wasn't the right word…he didn't quite understand the relationship that Abby and Hotch had, and he never would. Hotch was the first affectionate father figure that Abby had ever had, and while Dave had taken over the job marvelously, Hotch would always have a special place in her heart and vice versa.

She smiled as she thought back to her impromptu meeting with her boss that morning. She'd gone into his office to discuss her temporary replacement and some of the things she still needed to be trained in. Once they'd gotten through that, Hotch sighed and asked her about Abby.

"Has she come to her senses yet?"

JJ shook her head, "No, and now she plans on running off with Jack if she doesn't get her way."

Hotch snorted, "Well that's not going to happen since Jack will be joining her at Georgetown in the fall."

"What are we going to do though, Hotch?" JJ asked, a little panicked. "I mean, technically they _are_ adults."

"We stay in their faces like we have for the past eight years; we don't let up on them until they see the light," Hotch told her. "They may be adults, but they both lack the capacity to make these kinds of decisions and I'm sure as _hell_ not going to let them screw up at this stage of their lives. With you, me and Dave providing a united front, they'll eventually back down."

"It's just going to be you and I," JJ informed him.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Dave switching sides. I'm talking about us having one less ally. I'm talking about the kids having him on their side," JJ said.

"Are you kidding me?" Hotch asked, both surprised and angry.

"No, she's not," a deep voice said from the doorway. They both looked over to see Dave standing in the doorway. "I wouldn't say that I 'switched sides.' Jesus, you make me sound like a traitor or something."

"If the shoe fits," JJ muttered.

Ignoring his wife's dig, Dave sat down in the chair next to her and continued, "All I did was hear her out, and she made a bunch of good points." Turning to JJ, he said, "Did you know that UCB is ranked #22 in the country? It's in the same tier as Georgetown, NYU, UVA and all of the other schools she was accepted to! Not only that, she's right, it has one of the best poli sci programs in the country."

"I don't care, I won't have her moving three thousand miles away to attend college! Not after everything that happened to her this spring!" JJ said, stomping her foot.

Dave shook his head and addressed both his wife and his best friend. "I think the two of you are making a big mistake; they both want and need control over their own lives. I'm not saying we should toss them out into the world with a pat on the head, but they're not kids anymore and we can't just make unilateral decisions and ram them down their throats!"

"Why not?" Hotch asked angrily. "I think between the two of us, now three, we've managed to raise two pretty good kids. Both of them are on the honor roll, both have never been in major trouble and they're both good people. I'd say that our parenting styles have worked well." He crossed his arms over his chest as if to dare the older profiler to argue with him.

Dave, who was starting to get pissed off, tried keeping his emotions in check. "Yeah, and look where that's gotten us. Both of our kids would rather abandon the idea of college altogether rather than have their futures mapped out for them. Their _our kids_ for Christ's sake, of course they're going to chafe at being told what to do! Where will it stop, Hotch? Say Jack does go to Georgetown in the fall and then decides to change his major from pre-law to something like drama, or art history or something else like that. Would you stop him from doing it? Would you insist he stay in a field he doesn't like? What about you, Jen, same thing with Abby? Where will your dictatorship end?"

Hotch was about to respond when his phone rang. "I have to take this," he said and motioned the not-so-happy couple towards the door. Dave and JJ stepped out and shut the door behind them.

"This isn't over, Dave," JJ warned. "I'm not going to change my mind about this."

"Neither am I, Jen," he said softly.

JJ glared at him for a moment before she spun on her heel and left for her own office.

xxxxxxxxxx

The ringing of her cell phone pulled JJ from her semi-relaxed state. "Agent Jareau," she said without bothering to check the caller id.

There was pause, "Hello Jennifer."

Her eyes shot open as she sat forward, "Hello dad."

There was another pause, "How are you?"

JJ took a deep breath before answering; just the sound of her dad's voice was enough to send her stress level soaring into the stratosphere. "I'm fine, and you?"

"I'm also fine, Jennifer. How are you healing since your gunshot wound?" He asked stiffly.

"The doctors say that I'm healing wonderfully and there should be no lasting long-term effects from it," she replied, wondering why in the hell he had called her, especially now. If he was that concerned about her injury, he would have called sooner than this. "Thank you for giving blood…you know, that night I was in surgery." She knew from her husband that her father had done it grudgingly, but she knew it had helped save her life.

"You're welcome Jennifer," he said.

JJ finally had enough with the polite chit chat. "Why are you calling me, dad?"

Jonathan cleared his throat, "Well, I know Abby's graduation must be coming up soon…" he trailed off at the end.

"And?" JJ prompted, hoping the man didn't want to come to the big event. First of all, she knew Dave would never allow it, not with the way he'd treated both her and their daughter in the past. Second, JJ wasn't sure she wanted him there, if only because she didn't want him and his acid tongue to ruin the day for Abby.

"And, well, I want to see her…all of you actually. I want to offer my congratulations to my granddaughter in person."

'What?' JJ thought. 'Is he dying? Having a stroke?' "Okaaaayyy," she said slowly. "I'll have to run it by Dave and Abby since I'm not sure they'll want to see you, but if they're on board, we'll arrange something."

She could almost hear her father nodding sharply, "That's fine Jennifer. How is Abby? I assume she got into a college somewhere?"

"She did," JJ told him with pride in her voice, "She got into UVA, Penn State, NYU, Columbia, American University and Georgetown."

"She's going to Georgetown, right?" Jonathan asked, as though it was a given. All of the schools had great reputations, but since Abby and her mother were so close, he assumed she'd pick a school that was close to home.

"Actually, we're in the middle of deciding that right now. It seems that Abby also applied to the University of California at Berkeley and was accepted and she wants to go there. Obviously her father and I would like to see her go to a better and closer school, but-"

Jonathan interrupted her, "But what?" He asked forcefully. "Jennifer, you can't leave this decision up to an eighteen year old, you have to make it for her!"

"I know that and-" JJ tried getting a word in, but her father was on a roll.

"This is her future we're talking about, Jennifer! You can't let her run off to some state school! She is a Jareau and she should attend one of the fine schools she got into on the east coast."

"I know that, dad," JJ agreed. "Dave and I are sorting that out with her right now. She's fighting us on it, but I'm confident we'll win in the end."

"Good and you stay in her face about it until the first day of classes if you have to. My God, if you had tried derailing your life like that, I would have locked you in your room until you saw the error of your ways."

"That's a little extreme, don't you think?"

"No, it's not," Jonathan told her. "You're her parent, not her friend, Jennifer. I know it's always been hard for you to see your relationship like that, but it's the truth and right now she needs a parent who won't back down, whether she realizes it or not." Jonathan paused and JJ could hear him speaking to someone else. "I've got to go, Jennifer, I have a client here to see me, but think about all that I've said."

"I will dad and it was…nice hearing from you," JJ told him before disconnecting the call. As she set her cell phone down on her desk, she smiled and felt better about the stance she was taking against Abby's college plans. Her father was right, she needed to keep a firm stance with Abby, the decision she was making was not one that should be left up to an eighteen year old and if her daughter grew to hate her for it, then too bad, at least it would be a well-educated hate. She stood up and took exactly one step to get some coffee when the meaning behind her thoughts hit her and she sat back down with a thud; she was agreeing with her father! Not only that, she was acting just as tyrannically as he did when she was Abby's age. God, if her father had tried taking over her life like that, JJ would have left home without looking back! Not only that, she probably would have done poorly just to get back at him.

JJ put her head in her hands as she thought about her words and actions over the past few days and shuddered, was she really willing to sacrifice her relationship with her daughter in order to get her own way? Was UCB really that poor of a choice, or was it that JJ just didn't want to cut the apron strings? She was used to helping Abby through important decisions and maybe she was angry that she hadn't come to her for help with this one and that's why she wanted to take control of it. She finally realized that she had to back off in order to save her relationship with her daughter.

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_Up next: The Rossi/Hotchner dinner_


	96. Chapter 97

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 97

* * *

Dinner that night started out as a quiet affair; everyone focused intently on eating the baked chicken and wild rice that Abby had made. As she ate, Abby watched her mother carefully; something was off about the woman and it made her nervous. The past few nights, her mom had silently seethed during dinner. In addition to staying silent, she had also perfected the art of shooting her dirty looks whenever she looked up from her dinner. It had made mealtime unpleasant for all of them but until the previous evening, both of her parents had been against her, and she didn't take it without a fight, so the mealtime unpleasantness had been a mutual action. But tonight…tonight her mother still stared at her throughout dinner, but it wasn't with an angry look, it was more of a thoughtful look and that scared Abby much more than the anger did.

She had watched enough National Geographic programs to know that, in the wild, many animals stalked their prey, watching them until they became complacent and then they came in for the kill and she wondered if her mother was doing that with her. She wondered if her mom was changing from angry to patient in order to let her relax about things and then once she did, blam! She would swoop in and send her paperwork in to Georgetown. As she tried to eat her dinner with her mother staring at her contemplatively, Abby thought it was pretty fucked up that the situation had devolved to the point where she was comparing their family dynamics to that of a National Geographic special.

The only people who really talked at all were Emily and Dave, and even they just made polite chit chat. No one thought it was possible to talk about the weather for half an hour, but Dave and Emily were able to. It wasn't until they were finished eating that Hotch finally spoke up.

"Well if no one else wants to start, I will. I think you kids are playing fast and loose with your futures and as someone who cares deeply about both of you, I won't allow it. Both of you _will_ be starting at Georgetown next fall, like it or not!" Hotch crossed his arms across his chest and sat back in his chair as though what he'd said would be accepted without argument. If he thought that was going to happen, he was dead wrong.

"I thought you said we'd get a say in things!" Abby said to her dad, accusingly. After his initial reaction to the news of her acceptance at Berkeley, Abby still wasn't one hundred percent convinced that his sudden change of heart wasn't a ploy to trick her. While she trusted her dad implicitly, a tiny part of her wondered when he would turn on her.

"You will Abby; the discussion isn't over," he told her and then muttered under his breath, "Subtle Aaron, real subtle."

"You can say whatever you want, young lady, but it isn't going to change anything," he told her as he glanced at JJ for her support. To his surprise, she was looking thoughtfully at her daughter and she didn't seem as righteously angry as she did earlier in the day.

"Seriously? Did you really just 'young lady' me?" Abby asked, offended. "I'm eighteen years old, Uncle Aaron! I'm an adult and this is MY decision to make, just like the cross-country trip is JACK'S decision! You don't get to make all of our choices for us anymore and that just pisses you and mom off, doesn't it? You just _loved_ controlling our lives!"

"I _do_ get a say in this! I was the closest thing you had to a father for six years and-"

"And I _am_ her father," Dave interrupted, "And I think this is a choice she has to make on her own, just like Jack needs to decide about college for himself." Hotch shot Dave the nastiest glare he could muster, which was pretty scary, but Dave just returned it with a determined look of his own. This was his daughter they were talking about and he would do anything to help her, including incurring the wrath of his best friend and boss. Aaron needed to get it through his thick skull that _he_ was her father now and while Aaron could give his opinion, when solicited, he and his wife would be the ones to help Abby ultimately decide about college. Besides, it would be enough of a battle to get JJ on board with letting Abby make the decision, he didn't need his friend undercutting him as well.

"THANK YOU, Dave! I've been trying to tell him that all week, but he refuses to listen!" Jack told him and then turned toward his dad, "I'm not trying to hurt you or go against your wishes, but I have to do what's right for me! All you've been doing is telling me what _you _want me to do, but you've NEVER asked what I wanted!"

Emily nodded her agreement, "Aaron, think back to when you were Jack's age. How would you have reacted if your father had dictated your future to you?"

Hotch didn't answer, he just looked at JJ, who had been strangely quiet since they'd left the office, and asked, "What do you think JJ? Are you really prepared to just stand back and watch as Abby blindly makes a decision that will impact the rest of her life?"

JJ shook her head gently, "No," she said softly and Hotch smiled smugly; while Dave and Emily might be on the kids' side, he still had JJ and she was a formidable ally. "She and Jack both need our guidance during this time," JJ continued, "But it has to be their choice to go to Georgetown, we can't force them."

Hotch's smile fell from his face as both Abby's and Jack's lit up; another adult had crossed over to their side! "Do you really mean that, mom?" Abby asked, her voice practically a whisper. She'd anticipated a long and drawn out argument with her, one that would've ended with one or both of them in tears.

JJ nodded and smiled softly, "I really do," she told her and then looked at Hotch. "Aaron, we always let the kids have a loose leash when it came to their academics and they never let us down. Hell, Abby's in the running for class valedictorian and Jack is in the top five percent of their class. They can obviously handle independence and I don't think we should start doubting their judgment at this stage of the game. Are they making decisions we might not agree with? Yes, but they're not children anymore; all we can do is help them when they ask for it, but the decision is ultimately theirs to make."

Everyone at the table stared open-mouthed at the blonde media liaison, but Hotch recovered his sense of speech first. "What the hell happened to you? Were you taken over by pod people? When we talked about it this morning, we were a united front and now you're suddenly on the kids' side? Where is this coming from?"

"Things change Aaron, I've had time to think things over and I guess I changed my mind. I love Abby and I want to keep my close relationship with her and if I have to let her move three thousand miles away to do so, then I will," JJ told him. "We've raised good kids Aaron; it's time to let them go, it's time to trust their judgments."

Hotch shook his head in disbelief. "Fine, let your daughter go to _Berserkley,_ but my son is going to Georgetown in the fall!"

"No I'm not, dad," Jack said softly but forcefully.

"Seriously Aaron, what's your hang up about Jack taking a year off between high school and college?" Dave asked, still in somewhat of a daze; he'd expected a huge battle with his wife and he was glad she'd come to her senses about Abby's college choice.

"First of all, it's not the way it's done!" Hotch said loudly. "You go to grade school, then high school, then college and then some sort of post-graduate program. Nowhere in that chain of education does it say 'take a year off to find yourself.' Second, I'm afraid that if he takes time off from school, he won't want to go back." Hotch turned and faced his only child, "You're so smart and so driven and I don't want you to lose that, I don't want you to have to settle for a mundane career because of a choice you made when you were eighteen. I don't want you to _do _something for the rest of your life, I want you to _be_ something!"

Jack took a deep breath; his father had _finally _given him a reason for not wanting him to take a year off and he knew he had to respond to it calmly. "Okay, I understand your worries, but taking a year off between high school and college really isn't that unusual, dad; they do it all the time in Europe."

"Newsflash Jack," Hotch said sarcastically, "We don't live in Europe, we live in America!"

"I also understand your worry about me not going to college after my year off, but I _will_ go back, I promise!" Jack told his father. "It's just that right now, the thought of going to college in the fall makes me physically sick…I just can't do it!" Seeing his dad open up his mouth to argue, Jack forged ahead, "Do you remember after mom died, how we put everything of hers into boxes and put them in the attic so we wouldn't have to look at them?"

Hotch nodded slowly, wondering about the abrupt change in the subject. Haley had died in a car accident when Jack was nine years old and both of the Hotchner men had been devastated. Soon after the funeral, they'd put her things in the attic so they weren't constantly reminded of her absence. It hadn't been the healthiest way to deal with everything, and they could talk about her now without it being weird, but at the time, neither of them could deal with her abrupt death. "I remember," he told him.

"Well, on my twelfth birthday, I was really missing mom, so I went up to the attic and looked through her things. In one of the boxes I found her journal and in it, there was a list of things she wanted to do before she died. One of the things was to backpack around the country for a year."

"Really?" Hotch asked, amazed. He'd never known that about his wife.

Jack nodded, "I really want to do this dad, not so much for mom but for myself. I don't want to be eighty years old and have this be one of those unfinished things on my bucket list. Right now I have the time and the money to do it and I'm not going to let this chance slip away from me!" There was silence at the table while Hotch digested this new piece of information.

Emily, who had been fairly quiet during the discussion, finally spoke up. "How about a compromise?"

"What do you mean?" Jack asked, looking at her suspiciously. Emily looked at Hotch and saw the same expression on his face and had to struggle to contain her smile.

"Are you taking your laptop on this journey of yours?" She asked and Jack nodded. "Okay, then how about you agree to take one online class each semester? That way you won't fall as far behind and your academic skills won't atrophy."

"What do I get in return?" Jack asked, still suspicious.

"Other than an education?" Hotch muttered under his breath.

Ignoring her significant other's unsolicited comment, Emily replied, "In return, your father will get on board with your plan. He won't make little digs about college and he won't act like an asshole towards you until you leave."

"Hey!" Hotch said loudly.

"He'll also gaurantee that you'll always have a place to come home to," Emily continued, "Whether it's to take a break from your travels or to come home permanently."

Jack chewed on his lip as he thought about Emily's offer. While he really wanted a year free of studying, her offer seemed like a good one and it was just one class per semester. Was it worth it to get his father off of his back? He nodded his agreement with the plan. "Deal."

"Hotch?" Emily asked.

"They have to be real classes that will count towards a degree, it can't be underwater basket weaving or drawing for dummies," he stipulated. Jack nodded his head in agreement to the new term of the deal and then they all watched as Hotch narrowed his eyes and thought for a minute.

"Okay," he finally said. "I still think it's a horrible idea, but there's not much I can do about it and I at least understand it a little better. I still want you to send in all of your paperwork to Georgetown though, just in case you change your mind."

"I'll send it in, but I won't change my mind," Jack said with a smile on his face. He had to remember to send both JJ and Emily some flowers since he knew he never would have won this argument without their help.

xxxxxxxxxx

Later that night, as she was getting ready for bed, Abby heard a knock at her bedroom door. "Come in," she called out and was surprised to see her mother enter the room. While she'd been on her side at dinner, she hadn't gone out of her way to talk to her and Abby wondered if she was still a little pissed at her.

JJ came in and sat down on the edge of her daughter's bed. Abby, who had just finished changing into her pajamas, sat down next to her and faced her.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing," JJ finally said after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. "I've missed you this week."

Abby smiled as she felt the tension between them dissipate. "I've missed you too," she said. "Not to piss you off or push my luck, but can I ask what made you change your mind?"

JJ sighed, "I finally realized that you were right."

"About what?"

"Many things," JJ responded. "I'm not going to apologize for my reaction; you kept your application and acceptance from us and I think that, under the circumstances, I had a right to my anger. That being said, you were right about needing to make your own choices in life." She paused and a sheepish look crept across her face, "You may also have been correct when you said I was acting like my father."

"Really?"

JJ nodded, "Really. Look honey, I should've known that you wouldn't have picked an inferior school just to have a new experience. Berkeley seems like it's a really good college and if that's where you want to go, then you should go. I'll miss you…God how I'll miss you, but you can't stay here just to make me or your father happy, you have to do what's right for you."

Abby's eyes filled with tears, "I'll miss you too!" She exclaimed as she threw her arms around her mother. They stayed like that for a minute before Abby finally pulled out of the hug. "But I'm not even sure that I _want_ to go to UCB! I just wanted you to know that I was thinking about it and I was hoping you'd help me make the decision."

"Of course we'll help you, honey," JJ said as she wiped her eyes. "The first thing we should do is schedule a campus visit."

"Really? You'd go there with me?" She asked. "Because if you and dad don't want to, I could always go by myself."

"Of course we're going with you!" JJ said. "We went with you to the other colleges you applied to, didn't we?" Abby nodded. "Then we're going with you to this one. How about we go on Thursday? I'll try to get us an evening flight so you'll only miss class on Friday."

"That sounds good mom, thanks."

"And I think we need to make tomorrow a mother/daughter day, we haven't had one of those in a while," JJ said. "We'll go out for a late breakfast and then we'll hit the mall and a movie. How does that sound?"

Abby smiled; they hadn't had a mother/daughter day since before the nightmare of the early spring and she nodded eagerly. "Sounds great, but you know dad will want to come."

"Tough, no testosterone allowed," JJ said as she stood up. "I'm going to bed, don't stay up too late," she said as she kissed Abby's forehead and then made her way to the door.

"I won't," Abby promised. "And mom?" JJ turned around in the doorway. "Thanks."

"You're welcome, honey," she said warmly. "I love you.

"Love you too."

As she crossed the hallway and entered the master bedroom, JJ had to bite her lip to keep from crying. She would miss her daughter fiercely if she chose to attend UC Berkeley and she fervently hoped that after visiting the campus, she would choose a school closer to home.


	97. Chapter 98

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 98

**~I am having a MAJOR bout of writer's block with this story! I have a few ideas for story arcs before I wrap it up, but if anyone has anything they want to see, _please _let me know and I'll try to work it into the story...hopefully it will get my creative juices flowing again.**

**~I have a question for all of you. Because of my course load this semester, I haven't been able to update as frequently as I have in the past, but when I do, the chapters are fairly long. I think the length of the chapters have been averaging 2,600 words. My question is this: would you like me to update more frequently but with smaller chapters (1000-1500 words) or would you like me to continue updating once or twice a week with longer chapters? Let me know via review or PM.**

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The trip to Berkeley was a success…or failure depending on the point of view. From the moment they set foot on the campus, Dave knew his daughter would be attending the California university in the fall. Between the lush vegetation, the collection of libraries, the eclectic mix of classes and the upscale dormitories, there was no contest between Georgetown and Berkeley. Not having to put up with the cold, wet, DC winters was also a plus in the California column. Hell, as he walked around the campus with his wife, daughter and tour guide, Dave could imagine himself going to school there when he was younger.

JJ also knew, from the moment they arrived in San Francisco, that Abby would ultimately choose to attend the liberal college. It was a gorgeous campus and everyone they'd met, from the students to the professors, were friendly and it created a very welcoming atmosphere. She also watched her daughter's face light up at all of the political and civic activism they saw on campus. It seemed like everywhere they went, students were pushing petitions at them and both she and Abby signed more than a few of them while Dave stood off to the side with a distasteful look on his face. Fighting back a grin as she signed a petition advocating for women's rights, JJ could almost see the word 'hippie' going through her husband's mind but thankfully he stayed quiet.

Upon their arrival back in DC, both Dave and JJ encouraged Abby to take a week to decide about college. They wanted her to weigh the pros and cons of each school and, to her credit, she did just that but it didn't surprise either one of them when she ultimately decided on UC Berkeley.

When Abby made her timid announcement at dinner a week after their visit, Dave's heart felt like it was tearing apart; he'd really hoped to have her for more than two and a half years, but they'd made it clear to her that it was her decision and they would support her no matter where she went to school. Before dinner, he and his wife had talked and had decided to accept her decision with a smile, no matter where she ended up going to college. They both knew they had ruined enough of this experience for her and they didn't want to bring her down anymore. After her announcement, they booth took deep breaths, pasted smiles on their faces and had immediately begun making plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but they both knew they would miss her terribly.

JJ, in particular, had to blink back many tears after her daughter's announcement. For most of Abby's life it had been just the two of them and, as a result, the two were closer than most mothers and daughters. Once Dave entered the picture, they had included him in the closeness and after the horrors of the early spring, their bonds had strengthened. It would affect her deeply to say goodbye to her daughter, but she knew the apron strings had to be cut.

xxxxxxxxxx

Three days after her announcement, Abby pushed the button to raise the garage door at the cabin and fervently prayed that her parent's cars wouldn't be there. She groaned as she realized the fates weren't listening to her that day because both her dad's SUV and her mom's sedan popped into sight as the large, automated door opened. As she pulled her own car in next to the SUV, she cut the engine and then wiped the tears from her face. She wasn't crying because of her decision to attend Berkeley, in fact a lot of the stress in her life had been eliminated after making that choice. No, she had been crying because she'd had an awful day at school. It seemed like everything that could have gone wrong had and after the conversation she'd had with her principal after school, Abby had barely managed to hold back her tears as she rode the Metro. Once she got into her car at the Metro station parking lot, however, she'd lost the battle and she had cried the entire way home.

Checking her reflection in the visor mirror, she gave one final swipe at her face and hoped that her parents would be too busy to notice how upset she looked. While she wanted to tell them about everything that had happened that day, she needed time to process it before they jumped into the fray. She knew that once they got involved, it would complicate things even further. She shook her head, as if to clear it, and then took a deep breath and got out of her car and entered the cabin.

As soon she stepped into the kitchen, she knew any hope she had of making a quick escape to her room wouldn't be happening since both of her parents were in the kitchen drinking coffee and talking.

JJ looked up as she heard the garage door open, "Hi honey, how was your day?" She asked and then really looked at her daughter. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Abby said with false cheer, "My allergies are acting up and my eyes were watering," she lied and then tried beelining it out of the room. Unfortunately her father had other ideas.

"Wait," he called out as she was halfway across the room. Abby reluctantly stopped and turned around, not meeting her dad's eyes.

Dave wasn't a profiler extraordinaire for nothing. He knew his daughter was lying to them, she'd been crying and from the looks of it, she was still upset by whatever had caused the tears. Along with her fidgeting, which was always a sign of dishonesty in her, she was also rubbing the left side of her head and she wore a pinched look on her face. "What's wrong, Pumpkin?" He asked gently. "It's not allergies, you've obviously been crying."

Abby sighed; it really sucked living with a profiler. "It's nothing dad, I just had a really bad day."

"What happened, honey?" JJ asked concerned.

"Nothing…everything…a bunch of things…look, I really don't want to talk about it right now. All I want to do is take my headache medicine and then go outside and study, okay?" Her voice took on an irritated tone and she didn't wait for an answer before she left the room.

JJ and Dave were surprised by her sudden departure; most of the time when she was that upset about something, she would talk to them and let them help her, but she obviously wanted to handle things on her own this time and they didn't know what to make of it.

"What was that all about?" Dave asked his wife, hoping she would have some secret insight on the female mind.

"I have no idea. Obviously something is wrong, but I have no clue as to what it could be," JJ said.

"Problems with Jack?" Dave threw out.

JJ shrugged, "Re-thinking her college decision?"

"Could be," Dave said. "A fight with Becca?" While Abby had been pissed that her friend had gone to talk to her father about her, the two girls were still on good terms.

"A bad grade on a test?" JJ wondered.

Dave snorted, "That'll be the day," he said and then paused. "PMS?" He asked carefully and was not entirely surprised by his wife's reaction.

"God Dave, just because our daughter is showing emotions doesn't mean it's PMS!" JJ said, offended for Abby.

"I _know_ that, Jen," her husband said, annoyed, "But it _is_ that time of the month for her. Besides, I was just trying to come up with reasons the same way you were, don't jump down my throat or label me a misogynist because of it."

JJ just stared at him, "I don't know which is worse; that you blamed our daughter's emotions on PMS or that you actually know her cycle well enough to know that it _could _be PMS."

"Hey, forewarned is forearmed!" He told her. "I don't go on a takedown with the team without doing some recon and I'm sure as HELL not going to enter a fracas with my daughter without knowing what I'm facing!"

"Did you just equate Abby's hormones to a BAU takedown?" JJ asked, amused in spite of herself.

"I did," Dave admitted, "But I'll deny it with my dying breath if you ever tell her about it."

"Tell me about what?" Abby asked as she walked back into the room. She was carrying both her iPod and a large textbook and she set them down on the table so she could pour herself a cup of coffee.

"Nothing," Dave said. "Are you ready to talk about whatever's bothering you?"

Abby snorted, "You mean have I processed everything in the ten minutes it took for me to change into jeans and a t-shirt? No," she said as she took a large drink of coffee.

"Okay, but we're here if you need us," JJ told her.

"Thanks mom," Abby said as she gathered her things up. "Dad? I know it's my turn to make dinner, but I'm getting a really nasty headache. Do you think you could cook tonight?"

"No problem, Pumpkin."

"Thanks," she said, "I'm going to go outside to study."

"Okay, but don't go down to the creek, there are storms rolling in," JJ told her and, as if on cue, there was a rumble of thunder in the distance.

"I'll study out on the porch," she promised and then left the kitchen and went out the front door. As she sat down on the porch swing, Abby glanced at her watch; she gave it less than thirty minutes before her father came out to interrogate her again. With a small sigh, she put her ear buds in and then picked up her textbook and began reading.

Twenty minutes later she looked up from her book when she felt someone sit down next to her. It was her father and she would bet a large sum of money that he wasn't out there just to get in touch with nature. Sure enough, as soon as she turned off her iPod, he started with the questions.

"So what happened today, Pumpkin?" He asked. "Are you having second thoughts about Berkeley?"

"No," she said honestly. With all that was going on in her life, between her looming graduation, planning for summer and Jack, her college decision was about the only thing she was sure of.

"Then what is it?" He asked.

"Just drop it dad!" Abby said loudly, with tears in her voice. "It was a bad day and I want to forget about it, so just let it go."

He didn't appreciate her tone, but he backed off. "Okay Pumpkin, but I'm always here if you want to talk."

"Thanks dad," she said, nicer than before.

He sat with her for a little while and then finally went inside when it became obvious she wasn't going to talk. After he left the porch, Abby breathed a sigh of relief and went back to her studies. It was raining and the sound of the drops hitting the ground was relaxing, so she didn't turn her iPod back on. Instead, she listened to the storm rumble around her as she worked. She didn't look up again until she heard a car on the gravel driveway.

"Nonna!" She exclaimed as the older woman got out of her car.

"Hello Little One," Marie said as she walked up the porch steps. Once at the top, Abby got up and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Your mother invited me for dinner," her grandmother told her and then took a good look at her. "What's wrong?"

Abby sighed yet again; she should have known that her grandmother would pick up on her stress. "Nothing, Nonna, I just had a bad day."

"Want to talk about it?" Marie asked and Abby shook her head. "Okay, but I'm here if you need me," she said and then asked, "So what are you studying?"

That was one of the many things Abby loved about her grandmother; she knew when to back off and give her space. Sure, if it was something important she could be just as nosy as her parents, maybe even more so, but for things like bad days she let Abby have her space and she was grateful for it.

Abby gave her a rundown on her history studies and then the wind started blowing the rain onto the porch so they went inside. Abby took her grandmother's coat and umbrella and they made their way into the kitchen, where her father was cooking and JJ was watching him.

"Ma!" Dave said in surprise as he looked up from the sauce he was stirring, "What are you doing here?"

"Well hello to you too, son," she said wryly as she went over and gave her daughter-in-law a hug, "Jennifer invited me over for supper tonight, is that all right with you?" She asked sarcastically.

"Sure it is, you just surprised me," he told her as he gave her a kiss on the cheek. While she was near the stove, Marie snuck a taste of her son's tomato sauce before he gently smacked her hand away. "Hey! Hands off the food!" He told her.

Marie tasted the small amount of sauce she had managed to get from the saucepan and smiled, "It's a good sauce, Davie," she said.

"Yeah, well it would be even better if you or my daughter would give me the recipe for _your_ tomato sauce," he grumbled.

"Come up with a good enough recipe to trade for it and we'll talk," Marie retorted.

Seeing her husband open his mouth to respond, which would inevitably set off round three hundred of the 'Great Tomato Sauce Recipe' battle, JJ jumped in and changed the subject. "I'm glad you could make it, Marie," she said as the older woman sat down next to her.

"Thank you for the invitation, Jennifer," Marie responded. She knew about Abby's college decision and, like her parents, she realized her remaining time with her granddaughter was limited so she wanted to spend as much time with her as possible.

Abby reached into the cabinet for plates and began setting the table. "How's the head?" Her dad asked as she grabbed the silverware from the drawer near where he was working.

"Better, except now I'm a little spacey," she told him.

"Aren't you always?" He asked with a smile.

"Ha ha, you're hilarious," Abby said with a mock scowl. After the events of the previous week, she was glad they were able to joke around.

Once dinner was underway, the four of them made polite chit chat and got caught up on each other's lives.

"So are you and Jack going to prom, Little One?" Marie asked towards the end of the meal.

Abby nodded, "We are," she confirmed. "That reminds me," she said, turning towards her parents, "Is it okay if I stay out all night on prom night? Jack and I want to go to the school's post-prom party." She didn't think it was that big of a deal, after all, it _was_ the prom. That's why she was so surprised when her dad shook his head.

"Absolutely not!" He proclaimed.

"What?" Abby asked, surprised. "Why not?"

"There is a whole _list_ of reasons why that's not going to happen."

"But you got to stay out all night on prom night!" Abby retorted. "Nonna said you were out until the sun came up for _both_ of your proms!"

"That's different," he said, crossing his arms as if to end any further discussion on the topic. While that might have worked on an unsub, it had absolutely no effect on a pissed off teenager.

"Why? Why is it different?" Abby asked loudly, still not believing his reaction. "Is it because your proms were like a million years ago? Or is it because you're a guy?"

"Both," he said, not appreciating the 'million years ago' remark. He wasn't surprised to see his feminist daughter, his feminist wife and his outspoken mother flash him angry looks at his response, but he held his ground.

"Putting aside your sexist attitude, I really don't see what the big deal is, dad." Abby said as she tried to keep her voice calm and steady. She knew it wouldn't do any good to yell at him as it would just make him dig his heels in deeper. "Jack and I will go from here, to dinner, to the prom and then to the post-prom. Nowhere in that scenario am I fodder for some crazed psycho looking to kidnap kids on prom night."

Dave could feel himself wavering in his decision, "I'm still not sure about it, Abby."

"What do you think is going to happen, dad?"

"You know _exactly _what I think will happen," he told her.

She looked confused for a moment and then the light bulb went on in her head, "Sex? Is that what this is about?" Dave turned slightly red and nodded. "Let me put your mind at rest, dad. I'm not going lose my virginity on prom night; I'm not living some eighties movie cliché."

"Well that makes me feel better," Dave said sarcastically.

"Look dad, you trust me, you trust Jack, and we're going to be at a nice, safe, and _boring _school sponsored post-prom party where there will be chaperones and everything. What exactly is the problem?"

Dave sighed and looked at his wife. "I don't have a problem with her staying out all night," she said. "Besides, in four months she's going to be going to school on the other side of the country where she will no doubt experience all-night parties."

"That makes me feel _so_ much better, Jen," Dave said sarcastically. He thought for a minute and then nodded, "You're right, Pumpkin, I _do _trust you and Jack. You can stay out all night."

Abby's face broke into a large grin, "Thanks dad, I promise you won't regret it," she said as she stood up. "I've got to call Jack."

"Hang on," JJ said. "Sit back down for a minute, there's something else we need to discuss."

Abby sat, "What's up mom?"

She took a deep breath, "I got a call from your grandfather last week and a follow-up email today. Apparently he wants to get together with us."


	98. Chapter 99

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 99

**~I just checked the poll on my profile, and it looks like people want more 'pre-Dave' flashbacks in this story. What would you like to see? Let me know via PM or review!**

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"Why does Grandfather Jareau want to meet with us?" Abby asked surprised. While the man had eventually done the right thing and given blood when her mother was shot, he did it only after she had guilted him into it and even then he hadn't stayed to hear about his daughter's condition. Also, after their last meeting more than a year ago in Pennsylvania, her grandfather had made it crystal clear that he didn't want to be a part of their lives anymore, and the feeling was more than mutual.

"I have no idea, Abby," JJ told her daughter. She was as puzzled as Abby was about her father's true intentions and she didn't know if she wanted to meet with the cold hearted man. "All I know is that he called me about a week and a half ago and told me he wanted to congratulate you on your graduation in person. It happened while you and I weren't exactly on speaking terms and I forgot all about it until I got an email from him yesterday wondering when we could get together."

"He doesn't want to come to her actual graduation, does he?" Dave asked, with a frown. There was no way in HELL he was going to let that happen. Dave didn't know what JJ's dad was up to, but he didn't trust the man any farther than he could throw him and he'd be damned if he'd let him ruin his daughter's special day.

"No, he just wants to see her…well, all of us…in the next couple of weeks." Seeing the skeptical look she was getting from her husband, JJ continued, "Seriously Dave, I really don't know what he wants."

"Well, do you want to see him?" He asked, praying she would say no. He would never keep her, or Abby, away from Jonathon Jareau since the man was one of their only blood relatives. But after their last encounter with him in Pennsylvania and the way he had verbally abused both Jen and Abby, Dave was fervently praying they would say they didn't want to meet up with him. Unfortunately it seemed as though the fates weren't listening to him that day, since JJ thought for a minute and then slowly nodded her head.

"I have to admit, I'm intrigued as to what he wants," she told him.

"You could find that out through a phone call or email, there's no reason to put yourself in harm's way again."

JJ snorted, "He's not a sniper, Dave, he's my father and I'll be fine seeing him."

"He may not be a sniper, Jen, but his words can hurt almost as much as a bullet. Do you remember our last encounter with him?" Dave asked. "He encouraged Abby to skip school to come see him, whereupon he called her a mistake and an embarrassment and he made her doubt her own existence. Then, when we confronted him, it nearly turned physical between the two of you after he berated you."

"I remember, but he also showed up when my life was literally on the line. He didn't have to donate blood to me, but he did and that has to mean something." JJ told him.

"What about you, Pumpkin?" He asked his daughter, who had been fairly silent.

Abby was torn; on one hand, she agreed with her mom, something was definitely up and she wanted to see what was going on. On the other hand, she remembered the doubt she felt about herself and her parent's love of her after her last visit with him and she wasn't sure that she wanted to go through something like that again. She scrunched up her face in thought and finally came to a decision. "I think we should meet with him."

Dave sighed, "All right, we'll get together with him, but not at the cabin."

"Why not?" Abby asked.

"Because there are too many bad memories here already and if things go sour with him, I don't want the memory of him being an asshole added to all of the others."

"I suppose we could meet him at a restaurant," JJ said.

"Nonsense, you can invite him to lunch at my place," Marie told her, finally joining the conversation. She had never met JJ's father, but after what he had said to her granddaughter after their last encounter, she wanted to be there in order to protect her since she had a hunch that if things went south this time, both JJ and Dave would be too busy arguing with the man to fully look out for their daughter's well-being. Someone had to be there to protect Abby and that someone would be her.

"Thanks ma, that would be great," Dave said.

"Okay," JJ said. "Is Saturday good for everyone?" Everyone at the table nodded and JJ stood up. "I'll go call my father and let him know." JJ left the room to make the call and Abby went to the kitchen to get the dessert ready.

"I have a bad feeling about this Davie," Marie said, once they were alone.

"Me too ma, but I can't stop them from seeing him. He _is_ Jen's father, even if he is a colossal asshole."

"We'll have to be on guard on Saturday," Marie told him. "We can't let him hurt either one of them again."

"I know ma, we won't," Dave promised.

xxxxxxxxxx

Later that night, Dave walked out of the study and towards the stairs, when he heard the sound of canned laughter coming from the great room. He walked into the room and was surprised to see Abby sitting on the couch, watching a late night sitcom re-run.

She jumped in surprise as he entered the room, "Jeez dad, you scared me!" She said. "You're up kind of late."

"_I'm_ up late? _I_ don't have school tomorrow. Shouldn't you be in bed, Pumpkin?" He asked as he glanced at the clock on the DVR and saw that it read 1:46am. He was honestly surprised to find her in front of the television. While she didn't have a set bedtime, she was usually in her room by eleven on school nights.

"I was," she told him, pausing her show, "But I can't go back to sleep."

"Nightmare?" He asked sympathetically as he sat down next to her and reached into the open bag of Cheetos that was on the coffee table. While she still experienced intense nightmares, ever since she told them about Berkeley and decided to attend the college, the frequency of her nightmares had lessened. It was almost as if the stress of keeping her acceptance a secret was causing some of the terrible nights.

"Kind of," she told him as she took a large drink from the can of Pepsi that was next to her.

"What do you mean?" Dave asked, getting a little annoyed; it was way too late to be playing twenty questions and the only reason why he was up was because he was ungodly late in finishing his latest book and he had both his editor and publisher screaming for his blood.

"I went to bed at about ten-thirty tonight and I had a nightmare. I dreamed that I was back in the hotel in New York and Will had just forced his way into the room," Abby told him. "He started smacking me around, like he did in real life, but in the dream I fought back and over powered him. I won!" She exclaimed. "Dr. Kendall told me that eventually I would get a handle on my nightmares, that the strength I was gaining in real life would spill into my dreams and she was right!"

"That's great Abby," Dave said cautiously, not exactly sure how to react.

"That's never happened to me in one of my nightmares before," she told him, "and I _don't _want to go back to sleep. I'm scared I'll have another nightmare and this time I'll lose like I always do. I just want this one night where I won."

He could practically hear the pleading in her voice and he couldn't bring himself to order her to go back to bed, even though he knew she needed her sleep. "Will you be okay at school tomorrow if you stay up tonight?" He asked, knowing the answer she would give.

Abby nodded, "Yeah, I've gone to school without any sleep in me before."

"Okay," he said as he scooted closer to her and put his arm around her shoulders. Pulling her in close, he grabbed the remote control and pulled up the menu, "What do you want to watch?"

An hour later, as the closing credits of a _Simpsons_ episode played, Dave heard a soft snore coming from his daughter and he looked down and saw that she had fallen asleep against him. Fifteen minutes later, he joined her in slumber.

xxxxxxxxxx

The next afternoon, Abby burst into the house after school and found her mother in the kitchen making popcorn. "Are you ready?" She asked her.

JJ nodded, "Let me just finish making the popcorn."

"'Kay, I'm just going to go and change out of my school uniform. Meet in the great room in five minutes?"

"Sounds good," JJ said with a smile, as she heard Abby thunder up the stairs. Dave was in DC meeting with his publisher and he would be gone until later that evening, so she and Abby were having a zombie marathon that afternoon. They had watched the first episode of the TV show, _The Walking Dead,_ and had both really liked it, so they'd DVR'd the rest of the season. They planned on watching as many episodes as they could before Dave got home and then they would watch the rest later in the week.

As she poured the butter over the popcorn, JJ looked out the window and sighed: it was the perfect kind of day to stay curled up under a blanket in the cabin. For the fourth straight day it was cold and rainy out. As she listened to an ever present rumble of thunder, she gave a happy sigh and smiled; while she usually hated this type of weather, today it gave her the perfect excuse to spend time with her daughter. She knew that in a few short months, the teen would be moving across the country and she wanted to spend as much time with her as possible before that happened, but she didn't want to smother her. She knew she would have to walk a fine line between now and August.

She placed the popcorn bowl, their drinks and a roll of paper towels on a tray and brought it into the great room where her daughter had already made herself comfortable on one of the overstuffed sofas. As Abby pulled the show up on the DVR, JJ spread the snacks out over the coffee table and settled onto her own sofa. While the zombie genre wasn't exactly her cup of tea, she'd heard good things about the TV show and she didn't think it could possibly be as scary as people had said it was.

While his girls were settling in to watch their gory television show, Dave was getting caught up with his best friend. After his meeting with his publisher, one that had been surprisingly short, Dave had called the priest to see if he wanted to meet for coffee. He was currently waiting for him one of the ever-present Starbucks that littered the DC area.

"Hey Davie," Jimmy said as he strolled up to the table, holding a large cup of coffee.

"Hey Jimmy, how're you doing, man?" Dave asked as the priest sat down.

The two of them spent the next twenty minutes getting caught up on each other's lives before Jimmy finally inquired about Dave's family.

"So how are Jennifer and Abby doing? It's been what? Over two months since the shootings? And well over a month since Suzette's attack on all of you?"

Dave nodded, "Jen is doing great, wonderfully in fact. The doctors are amazed by her physical recovery and she doesn't seem to have as many psychological scars from everything as Abby and I do."

Jimmy took a sip of his coffee, "It makes sense, you and Abby were the ones who waited to hear whether she would live or die and she wasn't there when Will attacked both of you."

"Add in the fact that Abby saw both of her parents shot on live TV and you have a pretty messed up situation," Dave agreed. "But Abby and I are getting back to normal. After you and Hotch strong-armed me into seeing a shrink, my nightmares have decreased significantly and Abby…well, Abby's making progress."

"Is she getting excited to start Georgetown?" Jimmy asked.

Dave shook his head, "She's not going to Georgetown."

"Where is she going?"Jimmy asked, surprised.

"UC Berkeley," Dave replied, trying to make it sound like it was no big deal.

The priest sat back in his chair and stared at Dave for a full minute before finally bursting into laughter. "Wanna tell me what's so damn funny?" Dave asked.

"_Your _daughter is going to one of the most liberal colleges in the country? That is _too_ good!" Jimmy said between his fits of laughter.

"Yeah, well, it didn't go over so well with us at first, but after some negotiation and threats on Abby's part…let's just say that Jen and I saw the light and finally relented into letting her go."

"What kind of threats?" His friend inquired.

"She threatened to run off with Jack and skip college entirely if we didn't let her choose her own destiny. The hell of it is, she wasn't bluffing!" Dave said, getting huffy all over again as he realized he had been out negotiated by a teenager.

The priest's outright amusement was beginning to get on Dave's nerves, but Jimmy didn't care. He laughed so hard that he was nearly silent. Finally regaining his composure, he wiped the tears of mirth from his face and said, "Your mother always prayed you would have a kid who put as many gray hairs on your head as you did hers. It looks like her prayers have finally been answered."

Dave just glared at him and Jimmy, knowing he was coming up to the line with his friend, deftly steered the topic away from his family life.

After meeting with his friend, Dave realized it was dinner time, so he stopped by Five Guys and got some burgers and fries to go. He then made his way to the cabin, mentally finishing his latest book in his head while he drove. As he pulled into the garage, he noticed the cabin was fairly dark and he was surprised since he knew JJ and Abby were planning on spending the afternoon getting caught up on one of their crazy television shows.

Throwing the SUV into park, he entered the cabin via the kitchen door, set the food down on one of the counters and started for the great room. Once there, he found his two girls buried under blankets on each of the sofas and it looked like they had both fallen asleep while watching their show, since neither of them stirred when he entered the doorway. He stood there for a minute, just watching them and thanking God for their existence, before finally speaking up.

"Hey you two," he started, but the rest of his sentence was cut off by blood curdling screams from both of them.

JJ and Abby, who had been so into their show that they hadn't heard Dave come home, both screamed bloody murder at the sound of his voice. JJ, who thankfully wasn't armed, shot up into a sitting position and brandished the remote control like a weapon.

"Whoa!" Dave yelled, taking a few steps back from the two of them. "Jesus Jen, it's just me!"

"Holy fuck Dave! You scared the ever-loving hell out of me!" JJ yelled, as set the remote back down on the arm of the couch and tried to get her heart restarted.

"_I_ scared_ you_?" Dave asked incredulously. "I thought both of you were asleep!"

"_We_ thought you were a zombie!" Abby told him, as she felt her pulse begin to return to normal from the fright he'd given her.

"A zombie?" Dave asked confused. "What…" He trailed off as he looked at the television. The scene playing before him was one of zombies attacking and eating a campsite full of people. "Jesus Christ, is this what you two have been doing all afternoon? Rotting your brain with zombie movies and junk food?"

With twin smiles, both of his girls nodded. "We knew you wouldn't be home to complain about it, so we decided to get caught up on our TV show."

"Do I smell real food?" Abby asked as she sniffed the air.

Dave nodded, "I brought Five Guys." He winced as both of the women squealed in happiness. "I might even be persuaded to bring it in here, provided we watch something else while we eat."

"How about _Glee_?" Abby asked. Both she and her mom had loved the show from the very beginning and they'd finally gotten a reluctant Dave to sit down and watch the show with them a few months ago. As a result, he was now as much of a _Glee_ fan as they were.

"Sounds good, Pumpkin," he said and then went into the kitchen for the bags of food. When he got back to the great room, the three of them tore into the food while they watched the teenagers sing and dance.

After _Glee_, they watched _Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother _and_ The Office_ via the DVR. Towards the end of the last show, a very tired Abby began dozing off. Her parents noticed and shut off the show.

"Bedtime," JJ told her.

Abby sat up and stretched, "But I'm not tired," she said.

"Yeah, you look like you're wide awake," JJ said sarcastically.

Abby sighed, "Okay, but before I go to bed, I have to tell you guys something." She stayed quiet after that, just nervously looking at the carpet.

There was a minute of silence before Dave finally spoke up, "We're not mind readers, Pumpkin; you actually have to _verbalize_ what you want to tell us."

Abby looked up and gave a small smile at her dad's words. "Remember how I had such a bad day at school yesterday?" She asked. They both nodded, so she continued. "At the end of the day yesterday, Principal Greene called me into her office."

"What did she want?" JJ asked curiously. Her daughter was a good student and a good kid so she wondered what the principal wanted with her.

Tears pooled in Abby's eyes, "She told me that I won't be this year's valedictorian."

She stared at the ground as she waited for her parent's reactions. There was a long moment of silence before the fireworks began.


	99. Chapter 100

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 100

**~I know, I suck at updating lately! I was out of town for a week doing research, so I wasn't able to update like I wanted to. After next week things should slow down for me for awhile *crosses fingers* so I hope to post more regularly on this story and on Happily Ever After.**

**~I haven't been able to thank everyone personally for your reviews since I'm so strapped for time, but THANK YOU! The reviews truly keep me going.

* * *

**

"Jesus Christ, are you serious? They didn't make you the valedictorian? What the fuck is _wrong_ with those people?" Dave raged. With all that his daughter had been through over the past few months, not only did she deserve to be valedictorian, she deserved a fucking medal!

"After all your hard work? Your dedication? They gave it to someone else? That's bullshit!" her mother spat and, while neither of them were surprised by her anger, both Abby and Dave were surprised by JJ's language choice.

"Heads up their asses, Jen, heads up their asses. They're the same people who accused Abby of cheating earlier this year! They just can't stand it when a kid from the lower social strata makes a name for herself. People look at her and think 'if she can do it, why can't all of the kids who have had so many advantages in life'? They probably gave it to some rich ass punk who has never had to work a day in his life!"

"Did she give you a reason?" JJ asked her daughter. "Did that shrew of a principal give you a reason for passing you over?"

Abby, who was near tears at this point thinking her parents were angry with her, said shakily, "After my horrible third quarter report card, my grades just weren't good enough."

"Horrible report card?" Dave asked, confused. "What in the hell are you talking about? You got all A's for Christ Sake! And that's after missing most of the quarter!"

"It wasn't all A's, there were three A minuses in there and it brought my GPA down."

"You've gotta be shitting me!" Her dad bellowed.

"You dealt with so much during that time, and they expected you to maintain a 4.0 GPA? I talked to your principal when we got back to the cabin and she assured me that the extenuating circumstances would be taken into consideration when calculating your grades! What is _wrong_ with those people?" JJ nearly shrieked.

"There's a lot wrong with them, Jen and if it wasn't Abby's senior year, I would pull her out of that place and put her in a school where they actually give a damn about the kids, where they actually understand that things happen that are out of their control!"

Both of her parents were so lost in their tirades that they didn't see the tears streaming down Abby's cheeks. "I'm sorry," she practically whispered as she shrank back into the couch. "I tried, I really did."

Their daughter's tearful admission stopped both Dave and JJ dead in their tracks and they looked at her in horror. "We're not angry with you, honey," JJ said soothingly as she sat down next to her and put her arm around her shoulders.

"We're angry with your school, with your principal," Dave clarified as he took up position on the other side of his daughter. "If anything, I'm mad at myself."

"Yourself?" Abby sniffed, "Why would you be mad at yourself?"

Dave sighed, "Because if it weren't for me, Suzette never would have been a factor in our lives," he told her. "If I would have just left well enough alone in Philadelphia, she never would have come after us and you wouldn't have been forced to miss so much school."

"That's crazy dad, if anything it's my fault. I had so much free time when we were stuck here, I should have studied more," Abby said as tears continued to roll down her cheeks.

"You're both nuts," JJ declared, shaking her head. "This wasn't anyone's fault. Dave, you have a past and it's a part of you. It's not your fault that your ex-wife lost her marbles! And Abby, you_ couldn't _have worked harder while we were in seclusion; if you had, I think your brain would have caught fire. You tried your best and that's all we've ever wanted from you."

"I know," Abby said, crying again, "But my best wasn't good enough. I _really_ wanted to be valedictorian, I really wanted to make you proud of me."

"Abigail Marie Rossi, you listen to me and you listen well," Dave began sternly. Her dad's tone got her attention and Abby turned to look at him, wiping her face as she did so. "We ARE proud of you! My heart is so full of pride; it feels like it's ready to burst. "

JJ picked up the thread of discussion, "After your father came into our lives, you could have easily slacked off in your studies, knowing that you no longer needed a scholarship to go to college, but you didn't; if anything you worked even harder and I am _so _proud of you for that!"

"Really?" Abby asked, sniffling.

"Really," JJ said, nodding firmly. "We've always been proud of you and we always will be."

"Thanks," Abby said softly, looking at the floor.

"I _am_ going to talk to that principal of yours, though. I don't care that you missed over three weeks of school; there were mitigating circumstances and they should be taken into consideration," Dave said, getting pissed off again. He was surprised to see his daughter fervently shake her head.

"No dad, don't," she begged. "Just let it go."

"Pumpkin, you deserve-" he started, but Abby interrupted him.

"I know, but it helps knowing that you and mom are proud of me, no matter what. Besides, I know the person who was named valedictorian and he's a good guy, I don't want to ruin it for him by making a big fuss about it. Plus, I don't want people to think that I'm a sore loser. When they formally announce the valedictorian on Monday, I'm going to smile and applaud him," Abby told them.

Dave shook his head slightly in disbelief, "You're a good kid, Abby," he said as he bent down and kissed the top of her head. "I still don't think its right, but I'll back off."

JJ saw her daughter yawn widely and said, "Why don't you get ready for bed, honey? We'll be up to say goodnight in a couple of minutes."

"Okay," Abby said as she extricated herself from between her parents and made her way up the stairs. Once they heard her bedroom door close, both Dave and JJ let out deep breaths.

"I know I'll sound like our daughter by saying this, but this really sucks! She _deserves_ to be valedictorian and she worked her ass off for it!" JJ said angrily, wanting nothing more than to confront Abby's principal.

"You're right Jen, it _does_ suck and if our daughter hadn't just put me on a leash, I would go down there first thing tomorrow morning and give that principal a piece of my mind! Between this and the cheating accusations earlier this year, I'm beginning to wonder what in the hell is going on at that damned school," Dave said, his anger and his frustration growing with each word. "Why did you enroll her there?" He asked, more curious than angry. "It's a pretty conservative school, even for me; why send her there when there were so many others to choose from?"

"It's the only one my father would pay for," JJ told him. "When I asked him for help in paying for Abby's education, he researched the schools in the DC area and told me that it was this one or a public school. As conservative and stodgy as her school is, I knew that a DC public school would eat Abby alive."

"Great, yet another way that Jonathan fucked with the two of you," Dave mumbled. "Speaking of which, are you ready for the meeting with him on Saturday?"

"I don't think I've _ever _been ready for a meeting with my father, both as a kid and as an adult," JJ told him. She saw a worried look pass over his face, so she tried to reassure him. "I'll be _fine_, Dave. I can't imagine he'll start anything on our turf and if he does, you'll be there to protect Abby and me."

"Damn right I will!" He said as he got up from the couch. He reached his hand out to his wife, "C'mon, we have a daughter who needs a few more reassurances from us."

xxxxxxxxxx

Saturday morning dawned and the Rossi family found themselves at Marie's house, gearing up for the meeting with JJ's dad. Dave and his wife were in the living room enjoying the calm before the storm, while Abby was helping her grandmother make the pasta salad and other dishes that would make up their early lunch.

Marie could tell that her granddaughter was nervous by the way she was flitting around the kitchen. Normally, Abby was calm and focused while preparing a meal but today she started one task and left it half finished before starting another. It got to the point where Marie finally made her sit down on one of the stools at the kitchen island and just observe.

"What's your grandfather like?" She asked as she sliced her homemade bread.

Abby gave a nervous laugh, "Let's see, he's really tall, he never smiles and he's loud, especially when someone doesn't agree with him. Plus, he just has this look…I can't explain it, but when he stares at you it's like he's reading your mind and judging you." Abby nervously tapped her fingers as she spoke and Marie finally covered her granddaughter's hand with her own before the girl drove her insane.

"It's going to be fine, Little One," she said gently, but she was wondering how a man could inspire such fear in both his daughter and granddaughter. Marie had looked forward to grandparenthood from the moment David had married his first wife and she had been bitterly disappointed that none of her children had given her grandkids while she was younger. She was so grateful that she had Abby in her life now and she couldn't imagine not having a close relationship with her.

"If you say so, Nonna," Abby said, but Marie could tell that the girl was just humoring her.

"Have you found a prom dress yet?" She asked, trying to change the subject. Abby had stopped her incessant finger tapping, so Marie resumed slicing the bread.

Abby shook her head, "Not yet, I haven't had time to look for one. Mom and I are going shopping tomorrow; you should come."

"I don't know, Abby, I don't want to intrude."

"You wouldn't be an intrusion, you'd be a help," Abby told her. "You found my dress for the sports banquet less than half an hour after we walked into the store. It usually takes me and mom _days_ to find a dress! I'll ask her, but I'm sure it will be okay if you come."

"And school? How is that going?" Marie asked, moving to another topic.

"Fine; I can't wait for summer though," Abby said. "It will be weird not working and not having swim practice or reading lists to work on, but I'm looking forward to having the time to relax before the big move to California."

"Your father told me you're not going to be the valedictorian at your graduation," her grandmother said gently.

"Oh, yeah," Abby said, looking at the counter. She felt her grandmother's finger under her chin and she was suddenly looking up at the woman.

"How could you possibly think we're not proud of you?" She asked. "You're a good person, Little One, and I couldn't be prouder of you if I tried."

"Thanks Nonna, I guess I just thought that with everything I've done over the past couple of months…you know, the sneaking out and hiding my acceptance from everyone…I guess I just thought that…" Abby trailed off, not exactly sure of what she had thought.

"You thought that those things had lessened you in your parent's eyes? That they somehow held those actions against you?" Marie asked and waited for a response.

Abby squirmed under her grandmother's gaze, "Yeah, I guess I did," she said softly.

"Those actions you're worried about are only two small blips on an otherwise perfect radar. Trust me, Little One, you would have to do _much_ more than that in order to disappoint your parents."

"I guess I know that, but they wanted me to be the valedictorian _so _badly, I guess I feel like I let everyone down."

"Well you haven't," Marie said firmly.

"Haven't what?" Dave said as he entered the room. He began picking at the food on the trays until his mother slapped his hand away.

"Leave the food alone, Davie," She ordered as she rearranged the food to cover the hole left by his hand.

"But I'm hungry," he whined and then winked at his daughter when he saw her smile.

"Jonathan will be here soon enough and we'll eat then," she told him and then, as if she was psychic, the doorbell rang.

The three of them made their way to the front door and met up with JJ. Seeing the panicked look on both of his girl's faces, Dave said, "Deep breath, ladies; it's going to be all right."

Both JJ and Abby breathed deep and it restored some color to their faces. Dave gave them another moment to collect themselves before opening the door. "Hello Jonathan," he greeted his father-in-law.

xxxxxxxxxx

The rest of the morning and early afternoon went surprisingly well; Jonathan had lavishly complimented Marie on the food which broke some of the nervous tension and everyone stuck to fairly neutral topics of discussion. While she was polite towards her father, JJ studied him intently during the meal and she could tell he was up to something. She finally asked him about it after dessert.

"Why are you here, dad?" She finally asked. She didn't want to be confrontational, but she knew her father responded best to direct questions.

Jonathan, who had been taking a sip of coffee, looked at her thoughtfully as he set his mug down on the table. "You never did beat around the bush, did you Jennifer?"

"I wonder where I got that from," she shot back.

A look of annoyance passed over Jonathan's face when he heard his daughter's tone, "Would you believe that I'm here to visit with my family? To see how you and Abigail are doing?"

JJ shook her head, "Seeing as we've lived in DC for ten years and you've never come to visit us, no, I wouldn't believe that. Why are you really here?" She asked again.

Her father sighed, "I never could put one over on you," he mumbled.

Dave, who had also studied the older man during the meal, knew that the pleasant mood at the table was about to change and he placed his hand over his daughter's to reassure her.

Jonathan took a deep breath, "There is an open seat for the state legislature in our district and I am going to run for it."

"And?" JJ asked with a sinking feeling in her stomach; she had a pretty good idea as to where he was headed, but she waited for him to say the words.

"_And_, I would like to present myself as a family man to the voters," he said. "Which means I'll need to do a photo shoot with both you and Abigail and I will need your support in the campaign and if the press ever asks you questions about me."

JJ gave an unladylike snort, "YOU want to present yourself as a family man?" She asked incredulously. "YOU, the man I barely saw while growing up? And when I did see you, all you did was belittle me and make me feel worthless. You want MY support? Is he for real?" She asked her husband a little hysterically, feeling as though she'd fallen into a rabbit hole.

"You forget that I supported our family when you were a child and I supported you when you had a baby out of wedlock!" Jonathan said loudly. "If it weren't for me, you and your daughter would have had nothing!You would have lived in an even worse place than you did and Abigail would have gone to a public school in the ghetto where she would have been lucky to learn how to read before she was sixteen. I might not have been the best father, but I didn't turn you away when I easily could have!"

"Don't make me laugh!" JJ yelled, "That was all mom's doing and you know it! She had enough blackmail on you to make sure you supported me until your dying day if I needed it! You never cared about me _or _my daughter, mom did! It was MOM who came through for us! You may have earned the money but it was _mom_ who showed me love and affection, not you! And it was _mom_ who cared for Abby and made sure she learned at a young age, not you!"

At that point, Jonathan knew he wouldn't be getting the support of his daughter, but he didn't want her to be an outright adversary during his campaign. While he was pissed that his rouse at being a caring father and grandfather hadn't worked, he knew that with all of her press contacts, she could torpedo his bid for state legislature in one fell swoop if she wanted to, so he tried to salvage the situation.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Jennifer," he said tightly. "While I was counting on your cooperation and support, I can certainly go in another direction for my campaign."

"You do that," JJ said in a steely voice. She was mad at herself for believing that maybe this time with her father would be different, that maybe he had changed and was genuinely interested in having a relationship with her and her family. She felt like a fool for falling for his act yet again.

"Fine," Jonathan said, barely keeping a lid on his own anger. "I will have to at least _mention_ my family in some of my speeches and on my website and I would like you to review the bio I have on you; I'm not sure of some of the dates. Abigail's was easy, I just mentioned her date of birth and that she's graduating from high school this month and will be attending Georgetown in the fall."

"But I'm not going to Georgetown," Abby said in a small voice, somewhat afraid to speak for fear it would set off another argument between her mother and her grandfather. She too felt foolish for having believed that the man had turned over a new leaf and she was hurt and disappointed that he really didn't want to have a relationship with them, that he had used this meeting in order to get what he wanted.

Jonathan looked at her, "You're not? Where are you going?"

"To UC Berkeley," she told him.

Jonathan turned his gaze back towards his daughter and looked at her with a mixture of disbelief and fury. "So you didn't put your foot down? You just rolled over and let her choose a lesser school? Did you even _try _to stop her?"

"Berkeley is _not_ a lesser school," Dave said through clenched teeth. He was ready to throw the man out on his ass for trying to use his family the way that he had.

Abby, who under normal circumstances would have laughed hearing her father defend the liberal university, defended her mother. "Mom _did _try to stop me, but she finally decided that it had to be my own decision."

"So you're going to stand by and let her ruin her life, just like you ruined yours?" Jonathan asked loudly.

As the words came out of the man's mouth, Marie knew that the day could not be salvaged. The man had just implied that Jennifer had ruined her life by having Abby and she knew that neither of them would let that comment go, nor should they. As she saw both her son and daughter-in-law open their mouths, she closed her eyes and tried to mentally prepare for the argument she knew was coming.


	100. Chapter 101

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 101

**~I swear I haven't forgotten about this story, real life just keeps getting in the way of my writing. I'm on spring break right now, so hopefully I'll get another chapter or two written this week.**

**~Here's a flashback chapter for everyone who said they wanted one. There will probably be one or two more before this story ends.**

**~Thanks again for all of the reviews, they keep me motivated!**

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Jonathan Jareau continued his tirade, "So you're going to let her make a colossal mistake, just like you did? You're going to let her waste all of her potential? You might have made some dumb choices in your life, Jennifer, but I _never_ thought you would let your own daughter make those same mistakes!"

As she sat there listening to her father rant about how she had fucked her life up, she realized it was the story of her life growing up. Her father was never seemed happy with anything she did as both a child and a teenager, but was the announcement of the person whom they were arguing over that had started one of their biggest and scariest arguments ever.

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"Pregnant," Jonathan Jareau repeated heavily and the word hung over the room like a heavy cloud. A young Jennifer Jareau had taken the train to Pennsylvania for a weekend visit to her childhood home. While she had told her mother that she was visiting to see her and the changing autumn leaves, the truth was she had come home to announce her pregnancy.

She had known about the life growing inside of her for nearly two months and she knew it had been another month since she and David had last slept together, so she was about to enter her second trimester and she knew she finally had to let her parents in on her secret. Surprisingly, it hadn't been too hard to hide it from them; she'd been at school when she discovered she was pregnant and she hadn't been home for a visit since then. Still, she knew she would begin showing soon and she didn't want to come home at Christmas sporting a baby bump without giving them a heads up about it. Plus, as much as she hated to admit it, she was going to need their help in the coming months.

"Yes, pregnant," JJ confirmed, looking at the table unable to look either of her parents in the eye. She didn't care as much about her father's reaction to her news; she had disappointed him so many times over the course of her life that his feelings about the situation didn't really matter to her. No, it was her mother she was worried about, her wonderful mother who had always stood by her side, her mother who told her there was never anything she could do that would make her stop loving her. JJ was afraid of what she would see in her mother's eyes. Would it be disappointment? Judgment? Anger? Any one of these reactions would send her over an already precarious edge so she remained staring at the table.

"How far along are you?" Abigail Jareau asked softly. It was the gentle tone of her mother's voice that finally made JJ look up and when she did, she was greatly relieved to see only love and understanding in her eyes.

"Nearly three months," JJ told her, barely holding back tears.

"THREE MONTHS?" Her father roared. "You've been sitting on this news during the best time for us to take care of this problem discreetly and easily?"

"What are you talking about?" JJ asked, genuinely confused. Her father, who had been pacing the kitchen, walked over to where she was sitting with her mother, slammed both hands down on the kitchen table and towered over her.

"You're a feminist, Jennifer, figure it out!"

JJ racked her brain for a moment until the proverbial light bulb came on. "An abortion?" She cried, jumping to her own feet. "You want me to get rid of this life growing inside of me as casually as I would have a mole removed? Are you crazy?"

"You watch your tone with me, young lady!" Jonathan snarled, "It's not my fault you're in this mess, it's yours! And yes, I was referring to an abortion, so what? It's safe, it's legal and most importantly, it will solve your problem."

"My baby is NOT a problem!" JJ shrieked. "Sure, it was a shock learning I was pregnant, but it is not my baby's fault and I can't just have a living being removed from my body."

"I don't see what the issue is," Jonathan said angrily. "The last time I checked, you were as pro-choice as anyone but-"

"Yes, I'm pro-choice," JJ interrupted, "And I'm _choosing_ to have this baby! I can't speak for other women, but this baby is a part of me and I can't just get rid of it and pretend it never existed!"

Abigail, who had never really agreed with the views of her daughter, gave a sigh of relief. "What about adoption, Jenny?" She asked as she pulled her daughter back into her seat. Her husband had never really been violent towards her or her daughter in the past, but tonight he was as angry as she'd ever seen him and she wouldn't put it past him to strike out with his fists if he couldn't coerce their daughter into doing what he wanted.

"I…I can't mom," JJ said softly, not looking at her again. "I know it's a horrible time in my life to begin raising a child, but I love it…I've loved this baby since the two lines turned pink on the pregnancy test. If I gave it up, I would wonder and worry about it for the rest of my life." What JJ didn't tell her mother was that a part of her was overjoyed that some of hers and David's love had survived. Even though the man had broken her heart, she was incredibly happy that she would always have a part of him in her life.

As if reading his daughter's mind, Jonathan said, "What about the father?"

"What about him?" JJ asked, trying to evade the question.

"What does he have to say about all of this?" Her dad asked as he stood on the other side of the kitchen with his arms crossed over his chest.

"He doesn't know and I'm not going to tell him," JJ said firmly.

"So, what? The punk who did this to you gets to walk away scot free while you RUIN YOUR LIFE?" Her father roared.

"I _don't _want him involved," JJ said, louder this time.

"Do you even know who it is?" Jonathan asked snidely and both JJ and her mother gasped.

"Jonathan!" Abigail started, but he wouldn't let her speak.

"No, I think it's a valid question. For all we know, she's been lying down with half of the male population of Georgetown University."

With tears coursing down her face, JJ responded, "You and mom raised me better than that."

Jonathan snorted, "Well I thought we did, but here you are announcing your pregnancy to us, so I have to wonder just how good of a job we did with you."

"That's enough, Jonathan," Abigail said firmly. "We _did_ raise Jenny right and she's still a good person; this situation doesn't change anything about her character."

There was a minute or two of tense silence in the kitchen while everyone digested the news. Finally, JJ's mom broke it, "What do you need from us, Jenny?"

"Um, well," JJ started. She knew it would be hard swallowing her pride, but she would do it for the sake of her baby. She knew she would need both financial and physical support from her parents, not only just during her pregnancy but while she finished school as well.

"Well girl, what is it? You might as well tell us since I doubt anything could shock us at this point," Jonathan said nastily.

JJ took a deep breath, "I won't be able to play soccer this year since I don't want anything to injure the baby, so I'm going to lose my scholarship next semester…" JJ trailed off, but her father got the gist of it anyway.

"So you want US to pay for your schooling?" He asked incredulously. "You waltz in here, announce you're with child, you refuse to take care of the problem and you expect us to finance you? You want us to fund this monumental mistake you're making?"

"Jonathan!" Abigail shouted as she saw the tears pouring down her daughter's face once again.

"No Abigail, the girl has to learn there are consequences for her mistakes!" He shouted and then once again towered over a sobbing JJ. "The only thing I will help you do, Jennifer, is pack."

"Wh-what?" JJ asked, not sure what her father meant.

He nodded, "I want you to go upstairs, pack up your belongings and leave. I don't want you, or your bastard child to ever darken my doorstep again."

"You-you're kicking me out?" JJ asked, shocked. She had expected many reactions to the news of her pregnancy, but never this.

"No, I'm giving you a choice…_another_ choice actually; if you take care of this problem quickly and quietly, I will pay for the rest of your undergraduate education at Georgetown and law school. That way you'll have more time to focus on your studies and you won't have to worry about soccer practice." He paused and let that sink in, "But if you insist on having your child, then you will be doing it alone, all of our support will end. You, young lady, will be completely on your own."

At that moment, JJ saw red. She always knew that her father was an incredible bastard, but until that moment she had never known just how much of one he really was. "For the last time," JJ snarled through clenched teeth, "My baby is NOT a problem and it is NOT a mistake! It's a living being and I won't discard it like I would a used Kleenex! I _am_ going to have this child and if I have to raise it alone, living in the streets, then that's what I'll do, but my baby will _always_ feel loved and that's more than I can say about me!" By this point, JJ was on her feet yelling directly into her father's face and once she was done with her outburst, he raised his hand as though to slap her.

Abigail, seeing her husband's actions, jumped up and shouted, "Stop it, Jonathan!" She said, stepping in front of her daughter. Turning towards JJ, she said, "Jenny, honey, why don't you go upstairs, wash your face and take a nap. I need to have a…discussion…with your father."

"Should I start p-packing?" JJ asked, not sure of her immediate future.

Her father nodded, but her mother said, "No, sweetheart, just go and lie down."

"Okay mom," she said shakily as she rose to her feet. Without a backward glance at her father, she started up the back stairs and went to her childhood bedroom.

As soon she heard the bedroom door click shut, Abigail hardened her voice. "Sit down Jonathan, there are a few things we need to get straight."

"The only thing we have to figure out is when the next bus leaves for DC, because our daughter is going to be on it," he told her as he sat down at the other end of the table.

What her parents didn't know was that JJ had snuck back out of her room and was listening to her parents from the top of the steps like when she was a small child.

"You know, I've put up with a lot from you over the years," Abigail started, almost conversationally. "You used Jenny to keep me trapped in a loveless marriage, you abandoned our family for your precious career and you weren't there for me _or_ Jenny after Lacey killed herself, and all of that was bad enough, but I am _not _going to let you drive our only child away from us."

"I don't know that you're in any position to tell me what I am and am not going to do with our daughter, Abigail," Jonathan said smugly. "I don't know if you remember who makes and controls all of the money in this household, but it isn't you and if you think-"

"I know things, husband of mine," Abigail said softly, but there was steel in her voice. "I _know_ about the separate books you keep for your legal practice; one set of actual numbers and one set for the IRS. I _know _that you overbill each and every one of your clients and as soon as you drop those bills in the US mail, it becomes mail fraud. How would you like your clients to find out about that?" Abigail asked.

"Now just a damned minute," Jonathan blustered, but his wife wouldn't let him continue.

"But most importantly, I _know _about the affairs." Her husband paled; his standing in the community was more important to him than anything and this worried him more than the mail fraud or IRS threats. "I know about all of the women you've been with and it doesn't bother me; the only reason I stayed with you was because you threatened to take Lacy and Jenny away from me if we ever divorced."

At the top of the stairs, JJ threw her hand over her mouth to muffle her surprised gasp. All of her life she wondered why her mother had stayed with her unloving, _evil_ father and now she knew.

"But I wonder if their husbands would be as willing to overlook the affairs as I am?" Abigail wondered rhetorically and felt a perverse feeling of exhilaration when she saw her husband pale even further. "I know one of the women was Janet Evanson; I wonder how Bill would react? Oh, who am I kidding, we both know how he would react and he owns that large butcher shop. I'm sure it wouldn't be any trouble for him to dispose of a body or two."

Jonathan's jaw dropped in shock; was his wife actually threatening him?

"Here's what's going to happen," Abigail continued, "We are going to support Jenny through this, both financially and as her parents. You are going to pay for her room, board and tuition at Georgetown and you will make sure that both she _and _the baby remain on your health insurance policy. She will come home whenever she wants to and I am going to throw her an enormous baby shower in the town gazebo once she's further along. After the baby is born, _we_ will watch over it during the week while Jenny is finishing up her last year of college, if that's what she wants, but she _is_ going to finish her degree and we're going to see that she does. A degree will give her and the baby a better chance in life. Not only that, we are going to give her whatever other support she needs, both now and after the baby is born. Understand?"

Jonathan looked at her coldly, "I'm assuming if I don't agree to your plans, word of my various…indiscretions will become well-known?"

Abigail nodded and smiled back, just as coldly as her husband, "You're not a stupid man after all, Jonathan."

"Fine," he spat as he got up from the chair. "If you need me, I'll be working in my office…working to support our daughter and our bastard grandchild." With that, Jonathan Jareau stormed out of his house, got into his car and sped back to his law office in town.

With a sigh, Abigail pulled herself together and went up the stairs to check on her daughter.

xxxxxxxxxx

JJ was pulled from her memories by her husband's loud voice, "That's it, Jonathan; I warned you once about ever referring to my daughter as a mistake."

"The only mistake I made, dad," JJ said, "Was thinking you had actually changed. Instead I know now that you're the same son of a bitch you always were."

As Jonathan opened his mouth to retort back, Marie intervened.

"Enough," she commanded and that one word was enough to shut Jonathan up, but Marie was just getting started.


	101. Chapter 102

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 102

**~Yay! I had hoped to update this story again while I was on spring break and since my class isn't for seven more hours, I made it! I'll be a zombie in class later, but it was worth it.**

**~This is a monster chapter, but since I waited another week to post, I thought I'd leave it as one instead of dividing it up. Enjoy!**

**~Once again, thanks for all of the reviews! I would respond to each one personally, but I have to get _some_ sleep before class**

* * *

Marie really wanted to lay into Jonathan Jareau, but just before she opened her mouth she remembered that her granddaughter was in the room and her psychological well-being outweighed everything else. She shot the man the nastiest glare she could muster and then turned toward Abby. "Go wait in your room, Little One," Marie said gently. She knew that the teen was still working to get past what had happened to her and her family earlier in the spring and she didn't want her to suffer a setback.

Abby shook her head, "Nonna, I want-" the rest of her statement was cut off by a look from her grandmother.

"Abigail Marie Rossi, go to your room _now_," she ordered sternly.

Whoa. Her full name. Nonna hardly ever used her full name and she'd never given her a direct order before. As much as she wanted to stay and hear what was about to happen, she knew better than to openly defy her grandmother, so she reluctantly got up from the table and went to the bedroom that had always been 'hers' when she stayed overnight. As she stepped into the room, Abby realized that her grandmother never said anything about shutting the door, so she stood at the threshold of the room and listened to what was going on in the dining room downstairs.

Now that Abby was safely out of the room, Marie could start in on the older man. "I don't know who you think you are, but how DARE you come into MY house and refer to MY granddaughter as a mistake? The only mistake I can think of is that you've been allowed to remain in her life for so long, but that is a mistake we can remedy."

"Ma," Dave started, but Marie was on too much of a roll to be interrupted.

"Hush, Davie," she said, never taking her gaze from Jonathan Jareau. "That girl is a gift from God. If you had ever bothered to get to know her, you would see that she's bright and funny and _strong. _And, unlike me, she's forgiving and all of those are qualities that were passed down from her mother!"

JJ gave a sad smile at that; how was it that this woman who had known Abby for less than three years was showing her more love and devotion in these two minutes than her grandfather had shown her in her entire life?

"Yes, well, you weren't there, were you?" Jonathan asked snidely. "My reputation was ruined by Jennifer's actions! The reputation I had worked so hard to build was tarnished the instant she walked down Main Street with her child in a stroller! You didn't have to support Jennifer and her child with _your_ hard earned money! So yes, I might be a bastard towards them, but if it wasn't for me, they would have been living in the streets!"

"I'm sorry, are you looking for _sympathy_ from me?" Marie yelled incredulously. "That's your _job_ both as a father and a grandfather! If you have the means, you help your children with whatever they need! What is wrong with you?"

"There is nothing wrong with me, madam, I just have my priorities straight. I know what the rules of society are and Jennifer didn't follow them, yet I was held responsible for her mistake. If my daughter had taken care of her problem quickly and efficiently, then things would have turned out much differently for all of us," Jonathan said coldly. "Can you honestly say you were overjoyed to hear that your son had fathered a baby out of wedlock? Wasn't a part of you embarrassed to introduce your illegitimate granddaughter to your friends and the rest of your family?"

"I have _never_ been embarrassed to introduce Abby to anyone! And I _was_ overjoyed to learn that my son had a daughter! I thank God every day for bringing Abby and Jennifer into our lives! My life is so much happier with both of them in it! I can't tell you the sheer joy that my granddaughter has brought to my life and if you would've let her, she could have done the same for yours!"

Jonathan shook his head, "I guess that's the difference between you and me; when you see Abigail, you see a gift whereas I look at her and see her as the thing that ruined my daughter's life, I see her as something that tore our family apart and I see her as someone who shouldn't even be here."

"You're a monster," Marie replied icily. "You're just as bad as those evil people that David and Jennifer chase down, except you're even worse because you're in a position of power."

"Call me what you want, but it doesn't change anything; I will always see Abigail as the one thing that ruined Jennifer's chance to do something great with her life. Her very existence is a cross that both Jennifer and I have to bear and, when she was alive, she was a burden to my wife as well."

"That's it," Marie said softly but lethally, still not taking her gaze away from the horrible man in front of her. "I don't care if he is your father, Jennifer, I want him out of my house. Abby and I are going for a walk and when we get back, he'd better be gone."

"Don't worry Marie, he will be," JJ assured her, using the same cold tone of voice that Marie was.

"As for you," she said to Jonathan, "There are about a thousand more things I would _love_ to say to you, but I know that my granddaughter is listening from her bedroom, so I'm not going to say anything else that will upset her further."

Abby's eyes widened from her position in her bedroom doorway; how on earth had her grandmother figured out that she had been listening the entire time? She thought she'd been really quiet! She'd always wondered if grandmothers came with innate psychic abilities and now she knew that they really did!

"What I will tell you, you son of a bitch," Marie continued, "Is that if you _ever_ come near my granddaughter again, or try to contact her in _any_ way, I will use one of my many connections to some old world Italian men and we'll see how _they_ deal with you. Understand?"

Deep down inside, Jonathan, for all of his bluster, was a coward and he could tell that the woman in front of him wasn't bluffing, so he didn't challenge her. "Fine," he spat, "I'll run my campaign without her."

Marie gave him one final glare before she called out, "Abigail, you and I are going out. Meet me at the garage door." She chose that exit because Abby wouldn't have to go through the dining area to get there and she wouldn't have to see her monster of a grandfather before she left.

A moment later, Abby met up with her grandmother and they left the house. Not knowing where they were going, they began walking in silence, both lost in their own thoughts. After a few minutes, Marie finally spoke up. "You know you are loved, right Little One? You know that none of us have _ever_ thought of you as a mistake?"

Abby sighed, "I know, Nonna, I just wish…" The teen trailed off, but Marie wasn't about to let her off so easily.

"You wish what Abby?"

"I just wish he would be nicer to mom," Abby told her. "If he wants to say that stuff about me, fine, I've heard it before, but he's mom's dad and I just wish he would try to have a relationship with her that wasn't about using her for his own gain."

"Wait just a minute," Marie said sternly, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. Abby stopped as well and turned to face her grandmother. "It is _not _okay for him to say those things about you! I don't care if he's said it a thousand times before, it is not right for him to act the way he does towards you! No one has _ever _seen you as a mistake and I have NEVER been embarrassed by you! You're a good person, Abigail and you deserve a better grandfather than that man!"

"Oh, come on Nonna, can you honestly tell me that you never once squirmed a little when you introduced me to some of your super-religious friends? You know you had to feel _some_ embarrassment when I went to church with you for the first time and you introduced me to the priest. He knew mom and dad weren't married and-" Marie didn't let her granddaughter finish her thought.

"Never," she said firmly. "I have never been ashamed of you or the circumstances that led to your existence. Good God, Little One, if anything I'm grateful for your existence!"

"Grateful?" Abby asked, a little confused.

Marie nodded, "You and your mother brought the light back into my son's life. Before you entered his life, my son was a shell of a man. He had seen so many horrible things in his line of work and he was unable to find any joy in life, but you and your mother brought happiness back into his world. It's largely because of you that my son can find pleasure in the little things again. Honestly, I shudder to think about where Davie would be right now if it wasn't for you and your mother."

Abby felt tears prick her eyes, "Thanks Nonna, I guess I needed to hear that right now."

Marie pulled her into a bone crushing hug and they stayed like that for a minute before pulling apart. "Now, let's go to that bead store you like so much," Marie said as she took her granddaughter's hand.

Meanwhile, Dave and JJ sat in a quiet shock as they listened to Marie and their daughter leave the townhouse. JJ was shocked because no one, other than her mother and her husband, had ever stood up for her like that and she felt an intense closeness with Marie. While she knew the woman liked her, she'd always wondered if, deep down, she had harbored some anger about her keeping Abby from her and her son for the first sixteen years of her life. Today proved to her that she was as loved by Marie as her daughter was. Dave, on the other hand, was stunned by the way his mother had stood up to the vile man and also for her not-so-veiled threats at the end. He wished he'd videotaped that because he knew his siblings would never believe him when he recounted it for them.

After they heard the garage exit click shut, there was a moment of silence before JJ broke it. "I am such an idiot," she said. "When you called me out of the blue like you did, I thought that maybe you'd had an epiphany, maybe something had happened and you realized how important family is. I should have known that men like you never change, you only think about yourself and how you can use us for your gain!"

"Jennifer," Jonathan tried speaking, but his irate daughter wouldn't let him.

"You know what the worst part of this is?" She asked rhetorically, "Once again I let my daughter get sucked into this mess! She had to hear what you really think of her, _again_! God, I must have been _crazy_ to think you had changed! You never do anything that doesn't suit you, that doesn't have a positive outcome for you!"

Even though he didn't want to alienate her during his campaign, Jonathan had just suffered through a tongue lashing from one woman and he sure as _hell_ wasn't going to sit through another one. "Might I remind you, Jennifer, that I came to New York and gave you my blood after you had been shot? I did that at the expense of a case I was working on and a lady I had been working with!"

Oh, please!" JJ screeched, "You gave me your blood because you knew you would be running for office and you didn't want it to get out that you hadn't helped me! You could give a shit whether I live or die!"

"Still, the fact of the matter is that you're alive right now largely because of the blood I gave you," he said sternly.

"Believe me," JJ said lethally, "If I could, I would gladly slit my veins open and get rid of all of your blood. The fact that I have any part of you coursing through my system makes me sick!"

"I don't have to sit here and take this from you, Jennifer," her father said tightly as he stood up.

"You're right dad, you don't; I can't speak for Dave, but I would be more than happy if you left and I never saw you again. But let me tell you one thing," she said ominously, "I will be watching your campaign _very _closely. I know you will have to discuss your family and fine, I get that, but you will talk about me, mom _and _Abby respectfully and lovingly. You will also talk about Abby just as much as you do me; I refuse to let her become our family's dirty little secret." JJ paused to let that sink in before she continued, "If you _ever_ discuss us in any way _other_ than respectful, I will sink your campaign so quickly it will make your fucking head spin. I have more press contacts than you can count and I have _no _problem using them to make your name mud. Got it?"

"I understand, Jennifer," Jonathan said with barely concealed rage in his voice.

"Good, now get out!" She snarled.

Jonathan gave her one final glare and then made his way to the front door. Dave, who wanted to make sure the man stayed out of his girls' lives, followed him. As Jonathan's hand hit the doorknob, Dave issued a threat of his own.

"I warned you, Jonathan," he said quietly, but lethally. "The last time we spoke, I gave you a clear warning about _ever_ referring to my daughter as a mistake again. You forget I have pictures of you with a certain woman in your town."

Jonathan swallowed audibly when he heard this and Dave flashed him a menacing smile. "Now, I'm going to let my wife decide what to do about this; it's her call as to whether or not I make those, and many other pictures public or if I hold onto them. You'd better pray that she's in a more forgiving mood than I am. As for my daughter; if you _ever_ refer to her as a mistake or an error on Jen's part, I _will _kill you and I'll make it slow and painful. Do you understand?" Jonathan nodded silently. "Good," Dave continued as he opened the door, "Don't ever contact your daughter or granddaughter again," he said as he slammed the door shut behind the man.

xxxxxxxxxx

Eight hours later, Abby entered the cabin and found her dad making himself a rather large root beer float. "Hey," she said, setting her purse down on the kitchen counter.

"Hey," he said as he put a straw in his sugary concoction. "Want one?" He asked and Abby shook her head. "How was your date?" While Abby and Marie had been out walking, Jack had called her and since she was in the city, she'd decided to hang out with him for the remainder of the day and into the night. Since she'd spent the afternoon with him, she was home before ten o'clock.

"You know mom would kill you if she saw you eating that much sugar at once, right?" Abby asked with a smile.

"That's why it's going to be our little secret," Dave told her as he sat down at the kitchen table.

"Where _is_ mom?"

Dave sighed, "She's up in our room, drowning her sorrows in some sappy, romantic comedy." He paused and took a large slurp of his float, "You know, you hurt her feelings this afternoon."

Abby looked surprised, "I did?" She asked, racking her brain to remember what she'd said.

Dave nodded, "When you and your grandmother got back to the townhouse, your mother tried talking to you about what your grandfather had said and you snapped at her and then left to meet up with Jack. That hurt her, Pumpkin. She just wanted to make sure you were doing okay and you were really snarky to her."

"Gosh, I'm sorry," she said, feeling horrible that she'd made her mom's day even worse.

"Don't tell me, tell her," Dave said. He was relieved that Abby was surprised to hear that she'd hurt her mother's feelings. While Abby could be as snappy and insensitive as any teenager, she normally didn't purposely try and hurt either of them with her words. After her outburst at her mother earlier in the day, he'd been pissed at her, but his remaining anger dissipated when he saw the look of genuine remorse on her face.

"I will," Abby said as she poured herself a glass of water. "I'm going to go up to my room and change into my PJ's and then I'll talk to her."

Her dad nodded, "How are you doing after the events of today?"

"I'm fine," she said breezily, a little _too_ breezily for his taste.

"Why don't I believe that?" He asked, shoving a chair at her with his foot.

Abby sighed and plopped down heavily, "What can I say, dad? It was a shitty day. My asshole grandfather told me, yet again, that my mother made a mistake in having me and she made it even worse by keeping me. I guess I can be referred to as an error and embarrassment so many times before it puts a damper on my day."

"You know it's not true, right?" Dave asked.

"I know that to him it's true, but that you guys don't see me that way."

"We don't," Dave affirmed. "You are the single best thing that's ever happened to me, Pumpkin."

Abby smiled and stood up, "Thanks dad," she said and then moved towards the doorway. "Ahem," she heard from behind her. She turned to look at her father and he looked pointedly at the swear jar.

"You owe two bucks," he said.

"I don't think so," she told him. Dave raised an eyebrow at her and Abby just looked at his root beer float. "You keep my secret and I'll keep yours," she told him.

Dave grinned, "It's a pleasure doing business with you, Pumpkin," he said as he ate a large spoonful of ice cream.

Abby smiled as she made her way to her bedroom. Once there, she quickly traded her jeans and sweater for her comfy Hello Kitty pajamas, washed her face and then knocked on her parent's bedroom door.

"Come in," she heard her mother say. Abby entered the room and found her mother curled up in bed, watching _You've Got Mail._

"Argh, not this one again!" Abby exclaimed as she made her way further into the room. While she and her mother agreed on many movies, they never fully agreed on what made a good romantic comedy.

"It's a good movie," her mom protested as she sat up and patted the space next to her. Abby sat down next to her and they were quiet for a moment.

"I didn't mean to snap at you today, mom," Abby finally said. "I just knew you were going to talk about what had happened and I really didn't want to at that point. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"You didn't," JJ said, "I was just worried about you. I know your grandfather said some hateful things and I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I am," Abby said. "After all these years, I know better than to take anything Grandfather Jareau says to me personally."

JJ sighed, "There are many things I would do differently if I had the chance and keeping your grandfather in your life for so long is one of them."

"Yeah, but you didn't have much of a choice," Abby said. "You needed his and Grandma Abby's support and, after we moved to DC, you needed his money."

"I know, but I still feel bad."

"You shouldn't, I turned out fine," Abby said. "But…" she trailed off, not knowing if she wanted to ask the question that had been plaguing her all day.

"What, honey?" JJ asked.

"Was I…was I really a burden to Grandma Abby?" She asked. "Grandfather Jareau said today that I was. Would she have lived longer if she wouldn't have had to take care of me?"

"Absolutely not!" JJ said firmly. "First, my mother died of breast cancer, _not_ because of exhaustion or because she overworked herself. Second, you gave her a reason to live! She stayed alive as long as she did because she wanted to make sure you were taken care of. She loved you so much, Abby and she _loved_ taking care of you. Don't you, for one _second_, believe anything my father said today, okay?"

"'Kay," she said, relieved by her mother's answer. There was a comfortable silence between them for a moment until JJ finally broke it.

"Wanna watch with me?" She asked, gesturing towards the TV as she laid back down in the bed.

"Does it have to be _You've Got Mail_?" Abby whined and her mother just grinned and nodded. "Fine," she grumbled good-naturedly as she snuggled under the covers next to her mother.

An hour later, Dave came upstairs to go to bed and found both of them dead asleep in front of the television. He quickly changed into his pajamas in the bathroom and then came out and joined them on the large king-sized bed. Moments later, he fell asleep to the rhythmic breathing of both his wife and his daughter.


	102. Chapter 103

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 103

**~Wow, I never thought I would update this so soon, but my class today was really boring so instead of taking notes, I worked on this chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

After the debacle with Jonathan Jareau, Dave hoped the family could settle down for a little while. He knew that with Abby's graduation around the corner, things would get hectic again in less than a month and he just wanted a few weeks of peace for himself and his family. He should have known better.

Every night since their meeting with her grandfather, Abby had had severe nightmares and Dave had to do everything in his power to keep from going to Pennsylvania to kill his father-in-law. He knew Abby's bad dreams were brought on by stress since the same thing had happened when they were in the middle of the 'UC Berkeley battle' and he knew they would last awhile longer. It killed him to see the terror on her face before she woke up and, not for the first time, he wished he had a magic wand and could make them all better for her. Her dreams got so bad that on Sunday night, he'd finally carried her into the master bedroom to finish out the night with them. Abby wouldn't talk about the nightmares or how her grandfather's words had affected her, but she made an extra appointment during the week with Dr. Kendall without him or his wife prodding her, so he knew things had to be pretty goddamned bad with her.

Three days after their lunch with JJ's father, Dave was at the BAU, working on paperwork. He had consulted on a case for the unit and since it was largely his ideas that led to the capture of the unsub, he had to fill out a lot of the never ending, bureaucratic bullshit that accompanied most of their cases. He was sitting at his desk, massaging his temples, when he saw his boss pass by his office.

"Hey, Hotch?"

"What's up, Dave?" The unit chief asked, stepping into the office.

"Where is everyone today?" Dave had arrived at eight-thirty that morning, after dropping Abby off at school, and he'd noticed that the bullpen wasn't at its normal frenzied level. He'd expected it to get busier as the day went on, but it was already ten o'clock and it was still fairly dead, especially for a Tuesday.

"I gave the team the day off," Hotch explained as he sat down on one of the chairs across from Dave's desk. "The last case was a nasty one and I knew everyone needed to blow off some steam."

"Ah, that's why my wife crashed at Emily's last night," Dave said. "When she called to tell me, I knew she had been drinking and from the raucous laughter in the background, it sounded like Emily and Garcia had imbibed as well; I just figured the two of them would call in sick today."

Hotch shook his head, "Nope, it's their way of blowing off steam. Besides, with as much time as I spend with Emily, it's almost impossible for her to lie to me."

Dave grinned, "Really? So things are heating up even more between the two of you?"

"Yeah, they are," Hotch told him. "I'm thinking about asking her to move in with us."

"Jack's okay with that?"

"I think so…I don't know, we haven't really talked much since the big blow out," Hotch admitted.

"Aaron, you guys have to talk, you can't just give each other the cold shoulder until he leaves," Dave said.

The unit chief sighed, "I know, but-" the rest of his words were cut off by the ringing of Dave's cell phone. The older profiler removed the device from his belt, glanced at the caller id and frowned. Flipping the phone open, he said, "Rossi."

"Mr. Rossi, this is Pam Jackson from Edmund Burke high school," the voice on the other end said.

Dave closed his eyes and said, "What can I do for you, Ms. Jackson?" This was all very déjà vu to him since this was exactly how the 'cheating incident' had started earlier in the year.

"Mr. Rossi, Principal Greene requests your presence in her office as soon as possible; it's in regards to your daughter."

'Yeah, I kinda figured that one out, lady,' Dave thought, but didn't verbalize it. Instead, he said, "Is she okay?"

"She's fine, there have just been a few…problems with her today and Principal Greene would like to discuss them with you. When can you get here?"

Dave glanced at his watch, "I can be there in half an hour."

"That's fine, I'll let Principal Greene know that she can expect you by eleven o'clock."

The call ended and Dave just stared at his phone for a minute. "Fuuuuccckkk," he moaned as he stood up.

"What was that all about?" Hotch asked, concerned.

"_That_ was my daughter's school, apparently there have been some 'problems' with her and they want to discuss them with me. Immediately."

A grin spread slowly across Hotch's face, "Good luck with that," he said, barely holding back his laughter; Abby rarely got into trouble, especially at school but when she did, she didn't half-ass it and they both knew it.

"Yeah, well I'm sure as _hell_ not going there alone this time!" He snarled as he pressed number one on his speed dial. He heard the phone pick up and a beat later, he heard a gravelly, "Agent Jareau," and all at once his hopes for a partner in the principal's office vanished.

"JJ?" He asked.

"Dave?" She responded as she put her hand over her eyes; since when was the sun so freaking bright in the morning?

"Christ JJ, you sound like shit! How much did you drink last night?"

"Dunno," she said and cleared her throat, "I lost count after five margaritas."

"Garcia's margaritas?" Dave asked incredulously. If she'd had more than five of the tech analyst's drinks, then she would probably need a liver transplant in the near future.

"Mmm hmmm," JJ moaned, as she grabbed her purse from her sprawled out position on Emily's couch; she knew she had some ibuprofen somewhere, she just had to find it without opening her eyes.

"Damn," he said softly.

"Did you call for a reason, honey, or did you just want to hear my death rattle?" JJ snarked as she popped the lid on what she hoped were the painkillers.

"I did; Abby's school called and they want to meet with us this morning."

JJ's eyes flew open, "Why?"

"They wouldn't tell me, all they would say is they had some problems with her and they want to discuss them with us. We have to be there by eleven."

"Okay," JJ said, trying to get her brain at least fifty-percent functional."I'll jump in a quick shower and meet you there."

"Don't worry about it," her husband said, "You're hungover and, from the sound of it, still a little drunk. I'll deal with this by myself."

JJ sighed in relief, "Okay Dave, but make sure to hear her out this time. The last time this happened, you took the principal's word as gospel and that can't happen this time."

"I know, Jen," he told her. "You go back to sleep and I'll see you later today. Call me if you need a ride."

"I will, and Dave? Good luck," she whispered.

"Thanks honey, I have a feeling I'm going to need it."

xxxxxxxxxx

At ten fifty-eight, Dave strode into the general office of Abby's school. Just like the last time, he found his daughter waiting on a bench outside of the principal's office, but unlike the last time, this time she didn't look pissed, she looked…worried.

He made his way over to her and she looked up at him, "Where's mom?" She asked, a bit panicked. She'd hoped that her mother would come and help her this time, seeing as her dad hadn't done much for her the last time they were in this situation.

"Still at Emily's, she can't make it," he told her and she groaned. "Wanna tell me why I'm here?" He asked.

"Not really," she mumbled.

"Is it another false accusation?"

"If it's about what I think it is, then no, I did what they're accusing me of," she told him.

He was about to ask what exactly she had done, when the door to the principal's office opened and a familiar looking woman stepped out.

Principal Greene stepped out of her office and greeted him. "Agent Rossi, how nice to see you again."

"Ms. Greene, always a pleasure." Dave replied dryly. "What brings us here today?" He asked as he and Abby entered the office. There was another man in the room and the principal introduced him.

"Agent Rossi, this is Mr. Downing; he's the dean of students and I asked him to sit in on this meeting."

"Okay," he said, shooting his daughter side glance. What in the hell had she done that they needed another member of the administration to be present? Everyone took a seat around the small conference table and then the principal began.

"It seems as though there are three separate issues that we need to address today."

Dave closed his eyes for a minute. _Three _issues?

Abby was just as surprised as he was; she knew what two of the issues were, but she couldn't, for the life of her, think of what the third thing was about.

Ms. Greene continued. "Abby's P.E. teacher had a bit of a run in with her today. The girl's gym teacher was out sick, so the boy's and girl's P.E. classes were combined. The boy's teacher, Mr. Smith, announced that during their morning baseball game, the boys would be playing baseball while the girls would be cheerleaders for the two teams."

Dave mentally winced; he could guess how well that went over with his feminist daughter.

"What did she do?" He asked.

"First, she refused to participate as a cheerleader-" Principal Greene was interrupted by the teen in question.

"The last time I checked, it is _not _1950 and girls are actually allowed to play sports, which is why I was out there at nine o'clock in the morning. I'm sure as heck not going to be some brainless cheerleader and I'm especially not going to be one at such an ungodly hour!" Abby didn't want her runaway mouth to get her into any more trouble, both with the school and her father, so she decided to add some manners. "With all due respect, ma'am." She could see her father glaring at her out of the corner of his eye.

"And then," Principal Greene continued, "she called Mr. Smith, and I'm quoting, 'a sexist, chauvinistic pig throwback from the Neanderthal era who needs to learn that he can't relegate women into his own ideal gender roles.'"

Dave ran his hand down his face; he didn't know whether to support his daughter for calling the teacher on his sexist bullshit or to be angry at her lack of respect. He knew she had been raised to respect people in authority but this guy had it coming! A cheerleader, really? _That's _why he was paying an ungodly amount of tuition to the highly esteemed private school? Disrespect or not, he knew JJ would be proud since she had been the one to plant the feminist seed in Abby's head and since he hadn't stood up for her the last time they were in this setting, he decided to now.

He turned his gaze toward his daughter. "Abby, you can't go around saying things like that to your teachers. They are in a position of authority and they deserve your respect-" He wasn't too surprised to be interrupted by her

"But he _is_ a sexist pig; it's 2011 for God sake!" Abby said forcefully.

"However," he continued, looking at the principal, "I've always taught my daughter to speak her mind and it sounded as though this teacher had it coming to him. Was she, and the other girls, given a choice about their roles in the game today?"

"I don't believe so," the principal answered.

"So you mean to tell me that you're okay with the teacher assigning his students positions on various teams based on gender stereotypes?" Dave asked. For the first time in his life, he was actually _glad_ that some of his wife's feminist rhetoric had stuck in his brain. "It sounds to me like he was treating my daughter, and all of the other girls in the class, like second-class citizens and I will _not_ tolerate anyone treating my daughter like a lesser human being, for any reason! Perhaps instead of hauling my daughter into your office, you should haul this Mr. Smith in and tutor him on his teaching skills." He wasn't shouting at the end of his rant, but he was pretty close and he could see that all of the people in the room, including his daughter, were staring at him in open mouthed shock.

"You may have a point, Agent Rossi," Principal Greene said through thinned lips, "but Abigail needs to know that she cannot talk to a teacher like that, even if he was being less than pleasant to the girls in the class," the woman said. She was shocked that this man was taking his daughter's side; after their last meeting she had expected him to agree with her, not argue with her!

The principal wasn't the only one in the room who was surprised; Abby felt like she had fallen into another dimension when she heard her dad defend her actions. Her dad; her conservative, traditional father who usually rolled his eyes when she and her mother discussed feminist politics, _he_ was sticking up for her! Had the world gone completely topsy-turvy?

"I don't believe she needs to know that," Dave responded and then turned to his daughter, "Did you tell the teacher you wanted to play baseball instead of being a cheerleader?"

Abby nodded, "I did and I did it nicely, but he said that having a girl on the team would be unfair because the skills of each team would be uneven. I tried explaining why I didn't want to be a cheerleader, but he wouldn't listen to me."

Dave turned back to the principal, "My daughter attempted to explain her position to the teacher and when she did, he insulted her. She finally insulted him back, but she didn't swear and she wasn't nearly as disrespectful as she could have been. If anything, I think you need to talk to this teacher about respecting his students."

He could see that the principal wanted to argue some more, but Dave put up his hand to stop her; he wasn't going to come down on Abby for what she'd said, so there was no reason to debate the subject any longer. "You said there were other issues we need to discuss?"

The principal stared at him for a second before she finally spoke, "Yes, there are. Let's move down the list, shall we?"


	103. Chapter 104

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 104

**~It seems that I've FINALLY gotten my mojo back with this story, which means more updates! Enjoy!**

* * *

"Please," Dave agreed in a polite tone, but inside he was seething and it was all he could do to keep from reaming out the principal; her daughter stood up to a sexist jackass and they wanted to come down on _her_? Not on his watch!

"The next issue we have to discuss is Abigail's behavior in the cafeteria yesterday. Since I was out of the office all day yesterday, this was just brought to my attention by Mr. Downing, who witnessed the event," the principal said. "We also have a video of the incident," she said as she picked up a remote control and turned the television on.

The video started by showing Abby sitting at one of the tables, studying by herself. After a minute, a kid Dave didn't know came up to the table and sat down. The boy said something and Abby shook her head and then he said something else and Abby's look changed from one of concentration to one of shock and anger. She said something back to the kid and then took her large cup of soda, reached across the table and dumped it in his lap. While the kid sat there stunned, Abby gathered her books and left the cafeteria.

"Unfortunately, there is no audio on this tape, but your daughter is clearly seen assaulting this student and then fleeing the scene," Principal Greene said.

"You witnessed this, Mr. Downing?" Dave asked calmly.

The dean nodded, "I did, but I did not overhear their conversation."

"Their conversation doesn't matter; Abigail assaulted Adam Sanford when she poured her drink in his lap! We have a zero tolerance policy in matters like this," the principal said prissily.

Ignoring the woman, Dave looked at his daughter, "What happened, Pumpkin?" He asked gently, knowing…no, _praying_ there was more to the story.

Abby, who was grateful that her father was letting her explain rather than taking her principal's side, began to speak. "It was fifth period, which is my free period and instead of studying in the library, I sat in the commons so I could eat my lunch. None of my friends are free at that time, so I knew I would be able to get some of my work done."

"Go on," Dave encouraged.

"So I was sitting there, minding my own business, when Adam came over and sat down. He wasn't there for more than a minute before he started saying rude things to me," she told him, looking at the table.

"What kind of things?" Dave prodded. He could guess what the little shit had said to her, but he needed to hear it from her.

Abby turned red and continued to stare at her hands, "He said that my top really showed off my chest well and he could tell that I didn't stuff my bra like half of the girls in the school. When he didn't get much of a reaction out of me, he went on to say that he'd heard Jack and I are getting hot and heavy. When I told him to mind his own business, he said that maybe if I gave a real man like him a chance, I wouldn't be such an uptight bitch all of the time and maybe Jack needed lessons in making me happy."

"Jesus Christ," Dave growled and Abby felt a pang of apprehension; was he mad at her?

"Abigail, why didn't you tell anyone about this? You should have told a teacher instead of taking matters into your own hands," the principal told her.

Abby jerked her head up to look at her, "Are you kidding? Come on, Ms. Greene, Adam is like that to all of the girls and we've all told our teachers and the administration about it, but nothing ever happens to him. We all know that his parents are large contributors to the school and that he's a star football player and it's easier to just not say anything. I learned long ago that to get along, I have to go along."

"I resent the notion that we have done nothing to help the few girls who have complained about Adam," Principal Greene said. "While there is not much we _can _do, since it's your word against his, we have done what we can."

"Well it's not good enough, is it?" Abby asked hotly. "He's still talking trash to most of the girls in this school and he's been doing it to me for years now. How many of us have to complain before something finally happens? Does one of us have to be raped by him?"

"That's enough, Abigail," her principal said firmly.

"Why now, Abby?" Her dad asked gently, but inside he was mentally planning the kid's demise.

She sighed, "Before I didn't say much or rock the boat because I _really _wanted to be valedictorian and I knew that if I stood up for myself in gym class, or stood up to a sleaze, it would be held against me, so I kept quiet," she told him. "But now that I don't have anything to worry about, I'm starting to stand up for myself and I've gotta say, it feels great!"

Dave looked at the principal, "So this kid has been bothering my daughter for the last four years and she finally did something about it and you want to punish her for it?" He asked incredulously. "You're lucky she didn't beat the hell out of this kid which, by the way, I would have been okay with."

Mr. Downing stepped in, "While Adam may have said some…unflattering things to your daughter, Mr. Rossi, they were just words while she reacted physically. We have always taught our students to settle thing with words, not fists, or cups of water. We have a zero tolerance policy for physical retaliation and there have to be consequences for it."

"Listen here," Dave started, but the principal cut him off.

"Since this is a hot issue, let's move on to the third issue that brings us here today and return to the assault later," she suggested.

"Fine," Dave hissed through clenched teeth; he couldn't wait to see what else they had on their agenda.

The principal pressed a button on the control pad on the table and suddenly the TV screen was showing a facebook page and the group title was 'Eric Lee should NOT be valedictorian, Abby Rossi was ROBBED!'

Dave heard his daughter give a small gasp, but he was confused, since most of the social media sites were foreign to him. "What exactly am I looking at here?" He asked.

"This is a malicious facebook page that was started after the valedictorian announcement was made last Monday," the principal told him. "As of this morning, over half of the students at this school have 'liked' it and there are over fifty comments in support of Abigail as the rightful valedictorian."

"Well, who started this group?" Dave asked and was amazed when both the principal and the dean of students turned and looked at his daughter.

Abby, who had been reading some of the comments on the screen, returned her focus to the conversation at the table and was surprised to see everyone staring at her. "Me?" She squeaked in surprise, "You think I did this?"

"It makes sense," Mr. Downing said, "Especially with your behavior since we made the announcement."

"But it _wasn't _me! Yeah, I'm sad that I didn't get to be valedictorian, but I would NEVER do something like this! Eric and I are friends!" She protested. She saw the still skeptical looks that the principal and the dean were shooting her and turned towards her father.

"You _know _I didn't do this dad," she said, trying to convince him. She would be damned if once again she would be blamed for something she didn't do. She breathed a mental sigh of relief when she saw that it appeared as though her father believed her.

"I know you didn't Abby," he said and then directed his words at the two members of the administration in the room. "My daughter didn't do this, folks," he said in a tone of voice that didn't allow for further argument.

"How can you be sure of that, sir?" Mr. Downing asked, having heard hundreds of parents say that very same thing about their kids over the years.

"Because I know my daughter and if she said she didn't do it, then she didn't do it," he said firmly. "Plus, when she told us about not becoming the class valedictorian, I wanted to come here and fight for her, but she wouldn't let me because she didn't want to ruin it for this Eric kid. She told us that she was going to applaud and smile when his name was announced as valedictorian. Did she do that?" He asked.

The principal thought back to the day and nodded, "She did."

"And did she have an attitude with him or any of you when you told her that she wouldn't be the valedictorian?" Dave asked.

"No," Principal Greene said, "She was disappointed, of course, but she didn't mouth off to us or argue with us and, come to think of it, I _did_ see her smiling and shaking Eric's hand after the announcement was made."

Abby nodded, "I did because I'm happy for him. Yeah, I'm mad that after all of my hard work I didn't get it, but Eric's a good guy and he deserves it."

"Do you know who _did _start this group then, Abigail?" Mr. Downing asked.

Damn, she was hoping no one would ask her that because while she wasn't one hundred percent sure of who created the group, she was ninety-nine percent sure of the culprit. "I have a good idea who started it, but I'm not totally sure."

"Who do you think it is?" Principal Greene asked.

Abby shook her head, "I don't want to say because I don't want them to get into trouble."

"Was it Jack Hotchner?" Mr. Downing asked, knowing that she and Jack were an item and that even before then, the two had always been close friends.

"Not if he knows what's good for him," she muttered and then saw that the three adults were staring at her expectantly. "He was just as pissed as you were, dad, about the whole valedictorian thing, but I gave him the same warnings as I did you."

"Then who was it?" The principal asked, her patience running out.

"Again, I'm not going to tell you, but I'll take care of it. The group will be gone by tomorrow," Abby assured her, but it wasn't good enough.

"Abigail, this group is a type of cyber bullying and we have a zero-tolerance policy for this as well. If you know who the culprit is, you are bound by the school's honor code to reveal their identity to us," Mr. Downing told her sternly.

Abby nodded, "Exactly. The honor code says that I have to report them if I know who the culprit is, but I'm not totally sure who it is and I don't want to get anyone into trouble. I'll take care of it," she reiterated firmly.

"Ms. Greene, my daughter said she would fix it and she will. Believe me, I know from experience that pressuring her to tell you something when she doesn't want to isn't going to work, so your best bet would be to just let it go," Dave told her.

The principal pressed her lips together tightly and looked from Dave to his daughter. "Fine," she said tightly, "let's move on to the consequences, shall we?"

Abby remained quiet, but Dave asked, "Consequences for what?" He wasn't exactly shouting, but his voice was much louder than conversational.

"Mr. Rossi, your daughter showed blatant disrespect to a teacher, she assaulted a student and, by not telling us who the creator of the facebook page is, she's participating in a cyber bully attack. There have to be consequences for her actions." She saw Dave open his mouth to argue, so she continued in a louder voice. "If you would like, we could refer this matter to the disciplinary committee and Abigail could defend herself against them, but that committee doesn't meet again until June first and according to the rules in the student handbook that both you and your daughter signed at the beginning of the school year, Abigail would be prohibited from participating in any and all extra-curricular activities until the meeting. That includes after school groups, sports functions and any and all senior week activities."

Abby knew that the last week in May was designated 'senior week' and there would be fun activities and trips for the senior students and she _really_ didn't want to miss them, so she said softly, "All right, what is my punishment?"

Principal Greene nodded in satisfaction; while the student in front of her was headstrong and sometimes didn't know when to hold her tongue, she was generally a good kid and she didn't want to make it too bad for her. "First, you were nominated to be on the ballot for distinguished student speaker at graduation; I am going to remove you from it."

Abby could see her dad open his mouth to argue so she quickly nodded her head in agreement and said, "Fine." The speech was the one part she had been dreading about being valedictorian, so if she wasn't going to speak in that capacity, she would rather just sit in the audience and not have to worry about her stage fright. She saw her dad purse his lips and give a sharp nod in agreement.

"Also, you will not be permitted to attend the prom," Principal Greene told her.

"What?" She cried, "No!" She looked at her father in desperation; she had finally found the perfect dress, she had convinced her parents to let her stay out all night, she and Jack had _finally_finalized their plans for the night and now it was being ripped away from her? Not to mention the fact that she was _really _looking forward to getting dressed up for the night!

Dave, who wasn't about to let his daughter's special night be ruined, said, "Ms. Greene, don't you think that's a bit much?" He sounded calm, but he was pissed beyond belief. The nerve of this woman punishing his daughter for standing up for herself!

"Not at all, Mr. Rossi," She said. "I think it sends a message to your daughter and all of the other students in the senior class."

"I disagree," Dave retorted, "I think it's heavy-handed and unfair; no matter what Abby did yesterday and today, she doesn't deserve to have her special night taken away from her." After all that his daughter went through over the past few months, Dave would be damned if she would miss out on any of the rites of passages of her last year of high school.

Ms. Greene glanced at the dean of students, "What do you think?" She asked him.

"While Abby's behavior as of late is a disappointment, I don't believe she needs to miss the prom for it," he said.

The principal considered this for a moment, "All right, Abby will be allowed to attend the prom, but not the school sponsored post-prom party afterwards. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Abby said quickly. At that point, she just wanted to get out of the office before they decided to expel her. Besides, she'd heard that the school's post-prom party was lame anyway.

Dave was surprised that Abby agreed so quickly and he didn't want to ruin anything for her, so he reluctantly nodded his agreement.

"Good," the principal said. "I also think it would be best if you took Abigail home for the rest of the day so she can reflect on her behavior."

"You-you're _suspending _me?" Abby stammered. This was bad, really bad.

Dave shook his head, "I'll take Abby home with me only because it's eleven-thirty and she's already had a horrible day, but I expect this incident, along with the others we discussed, will not appear on her permanent record. If they do, I can assure you that my attorney will get involved."

Mr. Downing jumped into the conversation, "I assure you, that won't be necessary, Mr. Rossi," he assured the agent.

"Good," Rossi said. "Come on Abby." The teen grabbed her books and made her way towards the door. The two of them were almost there before the principal spoke again.

"Once again, Abigail, I urge you to use this time to reflect on how you want the rest of your school year to go," she said. "I know you're disappointed about not being the class valedictorian, but that doesn't give you carte blanche to buck the rules."

Abby, who'd had her hand on the doorknob, paused to listen to the principal. Once the woman's mini-tirade was finished, she moved to open the door but she heard her father's voice in her ear.

"Abby, please?" He said softly, nearly begging. He had promised his daughter that he wouldn't say anything to the principal about the whole valedictorian thing, but this was ridiculous and he was nearly having an aneurysm holding his tongue.

Abby turned to him and smiled softly, "Okay," she said.

"Thank you," he said gratefully and then turned back around to face the prissy woman.

"Up until now I haven't said anything about my daughter not being named valedictorian, mostly because I promised her I wouldn't, but she just let me off of that leash," Dave started. "I don't know what is wrong with you people here, but to penalize my daughter for missing school because a monster was hunting her is despicable. The fact that she still managed to earn all A's while not attending school was apparently lost on you people. It also begs the question as to why the hell I've paid so much tuition to this place when she was able to learn a lot of it on her own!"

"Mr. Rossi-" Principal Green sputtered, but Dave wouldn't let her interrupt.

"But what's done is done," he said. "Believe me, if this wasn't her last year here, I would yank her from this place so quickly, it would make your head spin. In retrospect, I should have done that long ago, but she always seemed happy here so I looked the other way when I saw her spirit broken in little ways over the years, but not anymore. If I even dream that you're treating Abby differently because of what she did or I said today, I'll sue this place into the ground!" With that, he turned back to his daughter. "Let's go, Abby."


	104. Chapter 105

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 105

**~My plan was to have this chapter finished by yesterday but my sister made me, she MADE me watch a bunch of low-brow, raunchy comedies with her and...well...what can I say?**

* * *

"I have to stop at my locker," Abby told her dad as they left the principal's office. She was still in somewhat of a daze after all that had happened.

"Okay," he responded, still seething in anger at the administration of the high school. The only reason he'd gone along with their punishment of his daughter was because he didn't want her to miss out on any of the senior week activities…that and the fact that _she _seemed okay with them.

Of course they had timed their exit from the principal's office to occur during class change and Abby could feel the stares of her fellow classmates as she and her dad made their way to her locker. Once there, she opened it and began filling her book bag with various notebooks and textbooks. As she stood up, she saw one of her friends standing at her locker across the hallway.

"Here, hold this, I'll just be a minute," Abby said as she shoved her book bag into her dad's hands. Dave, who didn't recognize the girl that his daughter was going to talk to, just nodded and pretended to look at the various pictures and writings that decorated the inside of her locker. What he was actually doing was eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Taylor!" Abby called out as the popular girl turned away from her locker. "Got a second?" Taylor Day was one of Abby's few A-list friends and she was fairly sure it was Taylor who had started the facebook page.

"Sure Abs, what's up?" She asked. "Is it true that Principal Greene dragged you into her office and read you the riot act for standing up to Coach Smith today?"

"Yeah, that and dumping my water in Adam Sanford's lap yesterday," Abby responded.

"Good for you, that creep has had it coming since he came to this school!" Taylor said.

"Yeah, anyway, I know you're the one who started the facebook group against Eric Lee as valedictorian and you need to remove it as soon as possible," Abby told her.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the popular girl said, not meeting her eye. "I've seen the group, but what makes you think _I_ started it?"

"Look, I'm not mad, but you've got to take it down. Eric deserves to be the valedictorian and I don't want anything to ruin it for him."

"But Abby," Taylor protested, "You're the one who deserves it! It wasn't your fault that you were stuck at your house for weeks on end. Besides, you helped me pass biology and if you can do that, you're a miracle worker! You _so _should be the valedictorian!"

"I shouldn't," Abby protested loudly. "Everyone keeps saying that, but Eric got the best grades in the class! Yeah, it sucks that I couldn't come to school, but my teachers sent me my tests and assignments and I didn't do as well as he did! The bottom line is that he deserves it and I won't have him, or anyone else, doubt it. The group ends today." Seeing her friend open her mouth to protest, she continued, "Look Taylor, I just got my name removed from the student speaker ballot and I've been banned from the post-prom party, largely in part because I refused to give them your name when they asked who started the group. I assured them it would be taken care of today, so I _really _need you to do this for me."

"Jesus," the popular girl breathed, "I had no idea that admin would even find out about it, much less rake you over the coals for it. It'll be down by the end of the day," she assured her.

"Thanks," Abby said gratefully; she hadn't been looking forward to giving Taylor up to the principal, but she would have in order to keep Eric from being railroaded. "I've gotta get going," she said as she glanced back at her father. While he was trying to be nonchalant, she knew he had listened to their entire conversation.

"What, did they suspend you?" Taylor asked jokingly. Her amusement turned to shock when Abby nodded.

"Yeah, it was kind of a mutual agreement between Ms. Greene and my dad that I should not be for the rest of the day," Abby said wryly.

"Are you in for a shit storm when you get home?" Taylor asked, lowering the volume of her voice so Dave couldn't hear it.

"Dunno," Abby shrugged. "I'm having trouble reading my dad's mood right now."

Taylor looked past her and stared at Dave for a moment, "Yeah, he looks scary but I don't know if it's an 'I'm pissed at my daughter' scary or an 'I'm pissed at Principal Greene scary.' Good luck."

"Thanks," Abby said as the bell rang. "You'd better get to class."

"Pfft," Taylor replied, "It's the last month of our senior year, what can they do to me?"

"You'd be surprised," Abby muttered as the girl made her way down the hallway. Sighing, she walked back over to where her dad was waiting.

"Got everything?" He asked as he handed her the book bag.

She nodded, "Yup." With that they walked down the hallway and out of the school building.

xxxxxxxxxx

It was a fairly quiet ride home, with only the radio keeping an oppressive silence at bay. They stopped at Five Guys and picked up burgers for lunch, but once they were back in the car, silence reigned once again. Dave was quiet because he wasn't quite sure what to say to his daughter, while Abby didn't speak because she still wasn't sure if her dad was mad at her. Finally, as they turned off of the interstate and onto the country highway that would eventually take them to the cabin, she spoke up.

"So how dead am I?" She asked hesitantly as she turned off the radio.

"What?" Dave asked, surprised that she thought he was angry with her.

"Well, if this is going to be the last time I see the outside world for awhile, other than school, I guess I'd like to enjoy it," she said.

"I'm not angry with you, Pumpkin," he told her and she breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm mad at the situation in general, but I am _not _mad at you. Do you understand the difference?"

Abby nodded, "I do."

"That's not to say that we're not going to talk about things once we get home, but you and I are okay," he reassured her.

After that, car ride was a bit lighter and by the time they arrived at the cabin, both Dave and Abby were smiling. Dave parked the car in the garage and they entered the cabin through the kitchen. "Why don't you go change, while I sort out our burgers?" He suggested and smiled when his daughter nodded and took off for the stairs. Less than a minute later, he heard the outside garage door open and close and then his wife stepped into the kitchen looking better than she'd sounded two hours ago.

"Look what the cat dragged in," he said jokingly, although she didn't really look too bad.

"Funny," she said as she beelined it to the coffeemaker. "Argh!" She cried in frustration when she saw it was empty. "Didn't Abby make coffee this morning?"

Dave nodded, "She did, but we must have drunk it all. I'll have her make another pot when she's done changing out of her school uniform."

JJ looked up, surprised. "She's home? What the hell happened?" Dave gave her a rundown on what had transpired in the principal's office and by the time he was finished, she was as mad as he was, if not more so.

"The _nerve_ of those people! Punishing _my_ daughter for standing up for herself? I have half a mind to go back there and give Principal Green a piece of my mind!" JJ fumed.

Reaching into the bag of burgers, Dave just smiled, "I know you want to honey and believe me, I want to as well, but Abby just wants to let it go, she wants to get through her last month of high school relatively unscathed." He grabbed three plates and put a burger on each one and then began portioning out the fries. Not surprisingly, JJ looked at the food in anticipation; she was the type of person who needed greasy fast food to cure her hangover.

"Fine," she said, "I'll go along with her wishes, but we have to talk to her about it."

"She knows, and we'll do it over lunch," Dave said.

"Do what over lunch?" Abby asked as she re-entered the room. She was wearing jeans and a tank top and Dave winced as he saw the still healing scar from the bullet graze on her upper arm.

"Talk," he said. "Abby, your arm looks horrible; are you sure you don't want to see a plastic surgeon? You know it's going to leave a nasty scar." Dave wanted her to get the scar fixed partly because he knew it would look bad, but mostly because he didn't want the scar reminding all of them of the horrible night in the study every time they saw it.

"God Dave, way to give her a complex about it!" JJ said, glaring at him. She turned back to her daughter and said, "It doesn't look that bad, Abby, but if you ever want to get it fixed, just let us know."

"I will," she said, "But for right now, I don't want to. I know that any plastic surgery is going to hurt and I just don't want to do it right now."

"That's fine," Dave said gently. "I'm sorry about my reaction; I just haven't seen it since that night." Abby usually wore short sleeves and since the wound was high up on her arm, the sleeves usually covered it.

She waved away his apology, "Whatever," she said. "It's such a nice day outside; can we eat and talk out on the deck?"

"Sure," JJ said, handing her the plate that held her burger and fries. The three of them walked out to the deck, got settled around the table and dug into their food. It was quiet for the first ten minutes or so, but then Abby surprisingly started the discussion.

"Thanks for sticking up for me in the principal's office," she said to her dad. "I guess after what happened earlier this year, I kind of expected you to side with her."

"You didn't do anything wrong, Abby, although I wish you would have told us about this Adam kid earlier." He paused and then asked the question that had been bugging him all morning. "He didn't get physical with you, did he?" Dave wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer, but not knowing was worse. Thankfully Abby shook her head.

"No, he just talked smack to me," she told him.

"You're sure he never touched you?"

"Positive," Abby replied. "If he had, I would've done a lot more than dump my ice water in his lap."

"Why didn't you tell us this was happening?" JJ asked.

Abby sighed, "Because I wanted to handle it by myself. I knew that Grandfather Jareau would only pay for Edmund Burke and I also knew that if I told you what was happening, you would pull me from the school and put me somewhere else," she told her mom. "Money was tight back then and you would've had to sacrifice a _lot_ to put me in another private school and I wasn't going to let you do that. By the time dad came along and we could've afforded another school, I was already established at Burke and I didn't want to leave."

"How long did it go on?" Dave asked, his lunch totally forgotten.

Abby thought for a minute, "On and off since my freshman year."

"And Ms. Greene knew about it?" JJ asked, her lunch forgotten as well.

"Yeah, we all complained to her about it, but most of us stopped when we saw that nothing was happening," she told her mom. "It's really not that big of a deal."

"It _is _a big deal, Abby," her mom told her. "There are federal laws in place to protect you from this type of thing."

"I still want to sue the shit out of them," Dave growled, but Abby shook her head.

"Let it go, dad," Abby practically begged. "I just want to enjoy the last month of my senior year."

"Fine," Dave agreed, "But if I hear about _anything _like this happening at that school, whether it's tomorrow or five years from now, I'm going to be all over it. Agreed?"

Abby nodded, "Agreed."

"How about gym class?" JJ asked. "Are you going to be trouble there?"

"No, the girl's gym teacher hates Mr. Smith as much as we do, so I'm sure she'll be okay with what I said to him," the teen said.

"You know we wouldn't normally condone your behavior towards him, right?" JJ asked her.

"I know," Abby said, "And I probably could've figured out a better way to deal with him today, but it's like I just snapped, kinda like yesterday with Adam. I've always been the good girl because I wanted to be valedictorian, but now that that dream is out the window, it's like I can express myself more honestly."

"Within reason," her mother told her. "I have no problem with you standing up to sexist teachers and sleazy students, but you need to choose your battles wisely. Valedictorian or not, we still expect you to be polite and respectful at school."

"I know and I will be," Abby assured her and then turned to her dad. "Speaking of valedictorian, the facebook thing has been taken care of."

"I figured as much when I saw you talking to your friend," he said.

"Saw me talking or eavesdropped on our conversation?" She asked.

Dave squirmed uncomfortably; the two of them had had many loud conversations over the years about his eavesdropping habit. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Abby snorted, "Yeah right. Anyway, the facebook group has been removed."

"That's a classy thing you did, Pumpkin," Dave said. "Most kids in your shoes would've supported the movement, but you shut it down cold. I'm proud of you."

"_We're_ proud of you," her mother corrected.

Abby shrugged, "Eric's a good guy and I don't want this ruined for him. Yeah, I was disappointed at not being valedictorian, but the simple fact remains that Eric did better than me and he deserves it."

"Are you okay with being removed from the ballot for 'distinguished student speaker?" JJ asked.

"I'm _more_ than okay; I don't know if you remember, but I have a small fear about making speeches and it was the one aspect of being valedictorian that I was dreading," she said and then thought for a minute. "It sucks that I'm going to miss the post-prom party though. Any chance you'll still let me stay out all night?"

"None," Dave told her.

"I figured," the teen said, sighing dramatically.

"Why don't you have a post-prom party here?" He suggested.

"Really?" Abby asked skeptically; she didn't know how much fun a post-prom blowout would be with her parents roaming around, but it beat just coming home and going to bed while her friends were out partying all night.

Dave nodded, "You can invite all of your friends and we'll make into a big shindig; my mother would probably love to do all of the cooking, there aren't any neighbors for miles to complain about the noise and all of the parents will feel better because it'll be chaperoned by a couple of FBI agents."

"It could work," Abby murmured as she considered it. "Let me talk to Becca and Jack and see what they think."

"Okay, just let us know so we can start planning," JJ told her.

"I will," Abby assured them and then stood up and gathered up the dishes. "I'm going to go in and hit the bathroom and then I'm going to take a walk down to the creek. Do you guys want to join me?" Both of her parents nodded. "'Kay, I'll be out in a minute," she said before she dashed back into the cabin.

While she was gone, JJ just stared at her husband. "What?" he finally asked.

"A post-prom party here?" She wondered out loud.

"What else could I do, honey? Besides, her friends are all fairly tame," he pointed out.

"Yeah, but it'll be _post-prom_," she told him. "It's not going to be a night of board games and movies."

"I'm sure it will be pretty low-key," Dave assured her.

JJ shook her head; she knew differently. "You poor, delusional bastard."


	105. Chapter 106

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 106

**~This chapter was written for mrytale2-5, who was the 600th reviewer for this story! She asked for a chapter that had Abby and Nonna talking about Dave's childhood, where Nonna would tell her stories that maybe her dad would rather she not hear. I hope this was worth the wait!**

**~I also want to give a shout out to Ren Kayashima since I got the ideas for some of the pranks/antics from one of her stories. If you aren't reading her story 'The Justice Card,' you should check it out...it's awesome!**

* * *

"You have a working fire extinguisher nearby, right?" Marie asked her granddaughter quietly as she watched her son pull some steaks out of the refrigerator.

Father Jimmy, who was also in the kitchen, snorted loudly but managed to school his face into a neutral expression when his best friend turned around to glare at them.

Once her dad turned back toward the fridge, Abby said under her breath, "Yeah, after last week mom put one near the patio door." Since the nice weather had arrived and it looked like it would be sticking around, Dave's grilling gene had kicked in and he became nearly obsessed with cooking outside. Unfortunately, his trusty charcoal grill had given up the ghost only two meals into the nice weather, so he had been forced to purchase a new one. Figuring it would be cleaner and easier, he'd gotten an enormous propane grill that had more gadgets and dials on it than the space shuttle, but that hadn't deterred Dave, he'd just ignored them as he'd dropped the meat on it the first time. Forgetting that he could control the flames and heat on his new grill, he'd walked away to answer a phone call and when he'd returned, not only was the meat on fire, but the entire grill had almost blown up. It was only because of her mother's quick actions at putting out the flames with a nearby pitcher of water that the entire grill and deck hadn't been set aflame.

"You dial nine one, and then when he inevitably starts another fire, dial one again," Jimmy said out of the side of his mouth.

Turning away from the icebox, Dave said, "You people realize that I can hear you, right? The fire last week didn't damage my eardrums!"

Trying to hide her grin, Abby said, "Sorry, dad."

"Besides," he continued, "I'm still not entirely sure that Reid didn't screw it up when he put the damned thing together!"

"Right Davie," Marie agreed sarcastically, "I'm sure the man who has an IQ of 187 is the one to blame, _not _the man who didn't bother to read the directions." Abby giggled at her grandmother's insinuation and got a dirty look from her father in return.

"It's a grill," he said testily, "There's nothing to read. You put the meat on and you come back and flip it and then it's done. End of story."

The three of them realized they needed to back off of Dave before he settled into his bad mood, so no one said anything else to him about it. Surprisingly, it was Abby's friend Becca, who was staying with them for the night while her parents were out of town, who broke the uneasy silence.

"Mr. Rossi?" She asked, "Is there time for me to take a quick shower before dinner? I feel really sweaty and gross." The teen, who was on the track team at school, had just returned from a run through the paths in the woods around the house.

"First, it's 'Dave' and not 'Mr. Rossi.' Second, sure you have enough time; we're probably not going to eat for another half-hour or so," he told her nicely, since she was the only one who hadn't been picking on him.

"Great," she said as she got up from the table.

"There are towels in the linen closet in your bathroom," Abby told her. She'd put Becca in the guest room next to hers, which also had an attached bathroom, although they planned to use the night as a mini-slumber party and neither of them planned on sleeping much. No, their plans for the night involved teen chick-flicks, lots of junk food and trashy magazines. They also had to plan for prom, which was only a week away, and for the post-prom party, which Abby had decided to let her parents throw.

"How do you like your steak, honey?" Dave asked her before she left the room.

"Medium-well please, Mr…sorry, Dave," Becca amended. He nodded and she left the room to escape into the luxurious shower.

"Okay," Dave said, "I'm going to go light the grill so it will heat up before I put the steaks on. You two have everything covered in here?" Abby and Marie were putting together a lettuce salad and they were making homemade French fries to go along with the thick steaks.

"We're fine in here dad, but if you could refrain from waking mom by turning the backyard into a giant fireball, I'm sure she would appreciate it." JJ had gone out to the back deck to read nearly an hour ago and she'd fallen asleep on one of the chaise lounge chairs.

"Funny girl," Dave said, giving her a mock glare as his mother and best friend both stifled laughs. He left the room via the patio door that led to the deck and grill. After a few seconds, Jimmy got up and followed him out the door, citing the 'safety in numbers' rule.

Once they were alone, Abby turned to her grandmother and asked, "What would you like me to do, Nonna?" While it was technically her kitchen, she always deferred to her grandmother when they cooked together.

Marie thought for a second, "Why don't you chop the vegetables for the salad while I finish the French fries?"

"Sounds good," Abby said as she put on an apron. There was a comfortable silence for a few minutes as both women got into the groove of their tasks.

"So how was the rest of your week at school?" Marie finally asked. Abby knew that her grandmother was aware of her semi-suspension earlier in the week and she knew of the events that had led up to it. While Abby was worried at first that the older woman would come down on her for showing disrespect to an elder, Marie had agreed with her parents that the teacher was in the wrong and Abby had been right to stand up for herself. She'd also come down on her side with the incident involving the water to the crotch and she praised her for stopping the movement against the valedictorian.

"Fine, although there was tension between me and Principal Greene when we were seated next to each other during an assembly put on by the junior class. Thankfully, she didn't say anything and neither did I."

"And your parents? How are they doing with everything? Do they still want to strangle Ms. Greene?" Marie asked, knowing that both JJ and Dave's anger was justified.

"They're fine," Abby told her. "Honestly? I'm surprised both of them didn't get mad at me, especially dad."

"Well your father really couldn't get mad at you, not with all of the times I had to go to _his _school and listen to his teachers and principal rail about _him_ and all of the shenanigans _he_ pulled!" Marie said firmly as she added more potato slices to the oil.

Abby, who had been chopping carrots, set the knife down and looked at her grandmother in shock. "Dad was a troublemaker in school?"

Marie nodded, "He never told you?"

Abby shook her head, "No, never. What kind of things did he do?"

Her grandmother smiled, "Stupid things really; before his father died, _your _father was a real wild-child, but his antics usually never hurt anyone other than himself. Suffice it to say, when things went wrong, your father was normally right in the middle of it."

"Now you _have _to tell me about some of the things he did," Abby said, practically begging.

Marie, who was only too happy to reminisce with her granddaughter, scrunched her head in thought. "Where to begin?" She wondered out loud before finally deciding. "The first time I knew I would have…difficulties with your father's behavior at school was when he began first grade. We had just enrolled him in a nearby Catholic school and he was doing anything and everything to get under his teacher's skin. Finally, he learned that while using the Lord's name was considered a sin, it wasn't considered a curse word and it became his favorite thing to do at school. He took the Lord's name in vain any and every time he could and it nearly caused his teacher, a novice nun, to have a stroke. It was largely because of him that using the Lord's name in vain was added as a punishable offense in the next year's student handbook, but the habit had already taken firm root in your father."

Abby giggled, "It's still a habit with him," she said. "He still can't say 'dammit' without putting a 'God' in front of it."

Marie smiled, "I gave up on that one years ago," she told her and then thought of another story. "After that, your dad kept his nose clean. Sure, there were minor skirmishes between him and his teachers during his younger years, but I let his father handle most of those and if there was one person on this planet _your_ father didn't want to cross, it was _his _father. My Nicolo was a loving man, but he handed down firm discipline when needed. Anyway, after my husband died when Davie was fifteen, he laid off the troublemaking as he adjusted to being the man of the house and he was pretty well-behaved until his senior year of high school and then it was like he couldn't stay out of trouble!"

"What did he do?" Abby asked, fascinated.

"What _didn't _he do?" Marie exclaimed. "That year, for some inexplicable reason, your father decided to take physics. After seeing a film about aerodynamics, he and Jimmy decided to buy a large amount of fireworks. Instead of lighting them at night and watching them, like normal people, they decided to attach them to Davie's roller skates so they could see how fast he could go. Of course they did this in the teacher's parking lot after school one day. Anyway, they attached all of the fuses to one large fuse and Jimmy lit it. Since neither one of them is exactly smart in science, they miscalculated everything and once the flame hit the fireworks, Davie shot forward much faster than he thought he would. He tried braking by crouching down, but the force of the minor detonations propelled him directly into the side of his principal's car. Not only did he get pretty banged up, he also hit his head on the driver's side door! The only thing that saved him from my wrath that night was that he had over forty stitches in his scalp and a concussion, but I had to pay for the dents to be taken out of the principal's car."

"Oh my God," Abby said as she laughed so hard she was crying. "THAT's why dad looked at me in horror last summer when I asked him if he wanted to go rollerblading with me! I can't believe that he and Father Jimmy would do that!"

"That's not all he did," Marie said with a smile. "After the roller skating incident, Jimmy laid off of the dumb ideas, especially after _his_ father got a hold of him, but as soon as my Davie healed, he was off and running. Much like you, he never got along with his principal, but unlike you, he didn't hide his dislike for the man. One day, while the principal was in an all day meeting at the school, Davie called a towing company and pretended to be the principal. He told them his car wouldn't start and he arranged to have it towed. Thankfully, the _real_ principal came out just as the tow truck was about to leave with his car. To this day, I'm not sure how they knew it was Davie who did it, or if they just rightfully guessed it was him, but that stunt got him a month's worth of detentions." Marie paused so that her granddaughter could catch her breath, she was laughing that hard.

"Then," she continued, "The month before his graduation, he went into overdrive with the pranks, knowing there wasn't much they could do to punish him since he got good enough grades to graduate and none of the things he did were expellable offenses."

"What did he do?" Abby asked, the salad forgotten.

"First, he snuck into the school one night and moved every single item from his principal's office out to the front lawn. He set it everything up in exactly the same place it had been in the office. What he didn't count on was the rain."

"Rain?" Abby asked, wiping her eyes.

Marie nodded, "Everyone got a good laugh out of it when they arrived at the school the next morning, but before everything could be put back, the sky opened up in a torrential downpour. Guess who was on the hook to pay for everything that was ruined? I was less than thrilled with your father that night."

"I can imagine," Abby said, hoping her grandmother would continue and was happy when she did.

"Then, Davie somehow got numerous bales of hay delivered to the school one night. How he managed that, especially since we lived in the middle of Washington DC, I'll never know but he did and he took the bales of hay and piled them up over each entrance so that no one could get into the school the next morning. It took the maintenance staff over two hours to remove all of the hay and the students were ecstatic to get out of attending their first two classes. Since Davie hadn't actually caused any property damage that time, I pretty much let it go. Besides, it was a clever prank," Marie said. "I realize now that that was a mistake since it only seemed to fuel his drive to come up with more non-damaging practical jokes."

"Like?" Abby prompted and Marie was more than happy to answer. Hadn't she always wished her son would have a child who tormented him like he'd tormented her? If you asked her, he'd gotten off _very _easy in that department since Abby, for the most part, was very well-behaved.

"A few days later, Davie picked the locks of the vending machines in the cafeteria and replaced all of the soda with beer. Needless to say, the administration wasn't too happy to see their students getting drunk, especially since most of them figured it out before ten o'clock that morning and it wasn't too hard to deduce that Davie was the mastermind since he was the only one who _hadn't _bought any beer!"

"That's genius!" Abby said, somewhat in awe. Her dad really was ingenious when it came to practical jokes.

Marie smiled wryly, "He didn't think it was genius when I took away his car for two weeks as a result, but unfortunately it didn't stop him. For his next trick, he once again snuck out one night and went over to the school. He flooded the entire front lawn with a few inches of water and filled the area with rubber ducks that had his graduating year written on them. Most people laughed it off, since it was harmless and actually pretty cute, but not his principal. The man, understandably, was at his wits end with Davie and threatened his graduation ceremony privileges if he pulled another prank, so Davie backed off. The last two weeks of the year went by fairly smoothly…until graduation day itself."

"Oh my God, what did he do?" Abby asked, enthralled by the stories. Who knew that her straight-laced, FBI agent father had such a diabolical streak in him?

The older woman grinned, it had been decades since her son had graduated and she could finally look back at his actions and smile. Besides, his last prank had really been quite clever. "Davie knew that just before each graduation, the faculty and administration met in the lounge and took a picture and the pose was always the same; the principal, vice principal and other important administrators sat on a sofa, as if they were all on a throne, and the faculty stood behind them. Well, David got to the school early and soaked the couch seat cushions with water. Since it was a black, upholstered sofa, no one could tell that it was wet and the couch cushions held the water like sponges. Needless to say, when the administration sat down, their…back ends got soaked. When they took their places on stage, it looked as if all of them had…not made it to the bathroom in time. They were never able to tie it to Davie, but he admitted to me afterwards that he was the person behind it."

Abby was laughing so hard, she couldn't talk; her dad really was awesome when it came to pulling pranks! "So when did he stop pulling pranks?" Abby asked through her giggles.

Marie sobered a bit, "After his sister died. Once she was gone, it was like a part of him had died and he became much more serious in life. In fact, it was you and your mother who brought the lighter side of him out again."

The teen, who was still laughing quietly, said, "At least he only did the practical jokes at school…at least you didn't have to worry about them in the house."

Marie snorted, "You'd think that, wouldn't you?" She asked rhetorically, "But you would be wrong. No, Davie was as much of a terror at home as he was at school, maybe more so because he could blackmail and bully his younger siblings into staying quiet about them. Someday you should ask your aunts and uncles to tell you about their experiences growing up with your father."

Abby, who had managed to calm down, made a mental note of her grandmother's words and knew that at the next family get together, she would ask for the scoop on her dad. Just as she was thinking that, he entered the kitchen and Abby once again burst into uncontrollable laughter.

Marie smiled at her while Dave just stared at her. "What?" He finally asked, "Do I have something on my face?"

Abby just shook her head and laughed. Finally, after a minute or two, she was able to gasp, "Fireworks! Roller skates! Car!"

It took Dave a minute to figure out what she was saying, but when he finally did, he turned to his mother and said sharply, "You _told _her about that?" If she had, he knew he would never hear the end of it from both his daughter and wife, because he knew Abby would tell her about it.

Her father's accusations at his mother sent Abby into even bigger gales of laughter and it was contagious. As she joined her granddaughter in amusement, Marie said, "Your daughter and I may have discussed some of your antics as a child," she admitted.

"Don't listen to her, Abby!" He said, both amused and annoyed at the same time. "My sisters gave as good as they got! Yeah, I might have frozen their bras once or twice, but that doesn't compare with them putting Icy Hot ointment in my underwear as soon as it came out of the wash. Let me tell you, that stuff stayed dormant for weeks and then I'd put a pair on and it came roaring back to life."

Abby was nearly screaming with laughter at this point and Dave realized his mother might not have shared _everything_ with her and that he may have added more fuel to the fire. He busied himself at the sink, preparing the meat for the grill, while the two women calmed down. After many minutes of near hysterics, he finally heard his daughter stop and take a deep breath.

"Better?" He asked calmly.

Abby nodded, but then realized he was wearing the apron that said 'Kiss the Cook' that her mother had gotten him as a gag gift the previous summer, and she once again erupted into uncontrollable laughter.

Dave watched her with a slightly irritated look on his face but, in all honesty, he was glad to see her laughing. After the shitty couple of months they'd had, combined with her recent problems at school, he knew she needed some amusement and if he was the source of it…well, it was a small price to pay.

Abby once again got her laughter under control and said, "I can't believe you're wearing the apron!" She got up to get herself drink of water and passed by him.

"What can I say? I didn't want to get crap all over my clothes and this is the only apron that isn't all girly," he said.

Abby just gave the standard teenage answer of, "Whatever." She was still grinning as she stood next to him, gulping her water. Her laughing fits had made her thirsty and she quickly poured herself another glass full.

"Besides," he told her, "It's not just a cute saying, it's payment for dinner." He tilted his head and stuck his cheek out at her.

Abby rolled her eyes and gave him a peck on the cheek. "That's better," he said with a smile. "Now why don't you go wake your mother? Dinner's almost ready and I know she'll want to freshen up after her nap."

"'Kay, dad," she said and went out the door to get her mom. Once they were in the room alone, Dave turned on his mother.

"So you just _had_ to tell her about my antics, huh? What exactly did you tell her?" He wasn't angry, but he was annoyed...annoyed and worried.

"We just discussed your final year of high school," she said, smiling.

He shook his head slightly, "Great. You'd better hope she doesn't try pulling some of the same stuff I did." To his surprise, his mother started laughing again, although this time the laughter had a touch of malevolence in it.

"Oh Davie," she said as she paused to take a breath, "I _pray_ she pulls some of the stunts as you did, that way you'll finally get a taste of what I went through!"

As he left the house to check on the grill, Dave felt his blood run cold; his daughter wouldn't do that, would she?


	106. Chapter 107

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 107

**~Sorry for the delay, I had a bit of writer's block. **

**~The next chapter is written, I just need to polish it up a little. Reviews might encourage me to post it faster than I normally would :-)**

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Three days later, Jennifer Rossi lay in bed next to her sleeping husband and lost herself in her thoughts. Two months ago, a bullet had torn through her and had nearly killed her and now she was lying in her husband's arms, basking in the afterglow of a very pleasant afternoon. As she sighed contentedly in her husband's embrace, she thought of the ordeal her family had gone through and the ways in which each of them were healing and she said a silent thank you to God that they had managed to come through everything and still be a loving family.

Although, she thought, their family would soon be split up by the entire US continent. Not for the first time, she wished her daughter had chosen to attend Georgetown University, which was in the same city as them, instead of UC Berkeley, which was over two thousand miles away. Intellectually she knew that her daughter wanted a new experience and a sense of independence she wouldn't have had in DC, but she was going to miss her fiercely. She couldn't imagine coming home and not having her daughter's greetings and, having seen the depravity of humanity in their jobs, she knew that both she and her husband would worry about Abby but they both knew that in order to keep their close relationship with her, they had to let her go.

Shaking her head lightly, as if to clear the depressing thoughts that were beginning to take up residence in it, she turned and stared at her husband. She had to admit, at first she wasn't sure about taking the three month sabbatical, especially since she had healed from her gunshot wound rather quickly and she knew the time off could hinder her career, but if she could look forward to more lazy days spent in bed while their daughter was at school, then the ramifications of the sabbatical would be more than worth it.

Knowing she wouldn't fall back asleep, JJ gently pushed herself away from her husband and out of his arms. Not bothering to change out of her pajamas, she quietly opened the door and then padded barefoot down to the kitchen in search of food. She knew there was leftover chicken in the refrigerator and, even though she had eaten lunch less than two hours earlier, she was ravenous…her husband had a way of doing that to her.

She stood in front of the open icebox and found what she was looking for. She pulled the food out and began eating it right from the leftover container as she stood at the counter; she was too hungry to put it on a plate and wait the two minutes for it to reheat in the microwave. As she ate another large chunk of the meat, she felt her husband's arms slide around her from behind.

"Hungry, Jen?" He whispered suggestively into her ear as he rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Mmmm," she said, leaning back into his touch. "You have no idea. _Someone _helped me work off my calories from lunch…and breakfast," she said with a gentle smile on her face.

Dave heard the smile in her voice and said, "Well why don't we go back upstairs so I can satisfy your appetite some more?"

JJ shook her head, "Nope, I need food…real food. Aren't you always the one who is trying to get me to eat more? Aren't you always telling me that I need to re-gain some of the weight I lost while recovering from my injuries?"

Dave groaned in her ear, "Dammit woman, you're as bad as our daughter with throwing my words back in my face. I swear, the two of you have the same kind of memory that Reid does!"

JJ just laughed as she turned around to face him. While still in his arms, she fed him a piece of the cold chicken and she watched as a suggestive smile spread across his face. Pulling her closer to him, he said, "Hell, we don't have to go upstairs, we have a nice, sturdy kitchen table right here."

Every fiber of JJ's being wanted to say…no, _scream_ yes to him as his lips crashed down on hers, but as he slowly moved them toward the table, she glanced at the clock and tried to disentangle herself from her his clutches.

"Sorry, honey, but our daughter will be home any minute," she said sadly.

Dave glanced at the clock and saw that it read four-thirty, "Come on, Jen," he practically begged as he held her tight, "We can be quick!"

JJ snorted, "When have we ever been fast? The term 'quickie' has never applied to us. Besides, she's already walked in on us once in the great room, do you really want to scar her for life again by having her come upon us in the kitchen."

Dave huffed out a sigh, "No," he said glumly and he reminded JJ of a five year old who didn't get his way. "Sorry, honey," she said, giving him a light kiss on the mouth. The light kiss turned into something deeper as he pulled her against him and increased the strength of the kiss. As time went on, JJ felt his tongue tangling with hers and she was just about to give him the green light for a quickie on the table when she heard the automatic garage door open.

"Dave," she hissed against his lips as she tried pushing herself away from him, "We're about to have company."

"Damn," he said softly as he heard the outside door close. Sighing at being denied time with his wife, he let her go and began putting some of the leftover containers away.

Abby walked in and, upon seeing that her parents were still in their pajamas, snarked, "It must be nice to be able to relax all day in your pj's..._some_ of us had to go out and actually do things today." She wasn't really mad, but couldn't her parents at least make an effort to not look like they spent the entire day lounging around while she plodded away at school?

"Hey! We did things today," Dave protested without thinking.

By the way he was looking at her mom, combined with their state of dress, Abby could guess what those 'things' were and, as the thought hit her mind, she made a slight retching noise. "Sorry, I threw up a little in my mouth at the thought of what you two were doing," she told them.

Dave was slightly offended, but JJ gave an unladylike snort, "How was school?" She asked, changing the subject.

"Meh," Abby replied as she got a drink of water. "Same old, same old, although Principal Greene is on the warpath about my post-prom party. It seems that more kids are coming to mine than are going to the school sponsored one." While Abby had never been a part of the popular crowd at school, she got along well with most of the kids in her small class and when word of her party reached the students of the senior class, it seemed that most of them wanted an invite to it. Part of it was because she was fairly well liked, but part of it was sheer curiosity. Abby really was a rags to riches story and many of the kids wanted to see the famed cabin they had heard so much about from others. Abby, who really didn't hate anyone in the class except for Adam Sanford, had asked her parents if she could make the post-prom party much larger and they had surprisingly agreed. As a result, the school sponsored post-prom party was going to be fairly deserted.

"Is she giving you a lot of grief?" Dave asked, more than willing to return to the school for round two with the principal.

Abby shrugged, "Not much," she told him, not wanting world war three to break out until _after _she graduated. She set her glass down on the counter and picked up her book bag. "I'm gonna go change and then study for awhile before dinner." With that, she left the room.

JJ gave her husband a sad smile as she sat down at the table, "It looks like the rest of our fun will have to wait until tonight."

Dave sighed, "I guess," he said, "Although, in just over three months Abby will be at Berkeley and we'll be able to do this anytime we want."

"Ugh, don't remind me that my baby will be moving three thousand miles away from us! It seems like just yesterday the doctor was placing her in my arms," JJ told him, staring out the window reflectively.

"Let's have another one," Dave said softly, watching her face for her reaction. After a second, he saw confusion.

"Another what?"

"Another Abby," he clarified. "Let's have another kid."

JJ was speechless for a moment before she finally found her voice. "But Dave," she said softly, "I can't." She was confused and a little frightened; she told him from the outset that she couldn't have any more children, had he somehow misinterpreted that? Was she not clear enough? And once it finally dawned on him that Abby was the only child they could have, would it be enough for him? Thankfully, he quickly put her fears to rest.

"I know that, Jen," he said, sitting down next to her. "But you carrying a baby isn't the only way to have one."

"Adoption?" She asked, shaking her head. "I already looked into that and between your age, my health and both of our jobs, there's no way any agency will give us a baby."

"Actually, I was thinking of surrogacy," he told her.

That stopped JJ short since she really hadn't given that option much of a thought. "You mean…" she trailed off.

Dave nodded, "We take one of your girls, mix it with some of my guys and put it in another oven to bake for nine months."

Despite the seriousness of the conversation, she could not stop herself from smiling. "You know, for a world renowned author, you really suck at describing things."

He chuckled, "Well, what can I say? Hopefully our next kid will take after you and Abby in that department."

Their next kid. JJ felt slightly light-headed at the thought of having another child. "Where would we even find a surrogate?"

Dave shrugged, "I've been checking into things and most fertility clinics can match us up with one," he told her and then saw the stunned and unsure look on her face. "Look honey, I've been thinking about this and I want another kid. I want to be there for the midnight feedings and the middle of the night diaper changes. I want to cringe during the terrible twos and I want to watch them on their first day of school. I want everything that I missed out on with Abby." He watched as his wife opened her mouth to interrupt, but he kept talking. "I'm not saying that as a dig against you, it's just that I want to experience fatherhood in its entirety. I love Abby more than I thought was possible and I want to share that love with another child."

JJ felt like her world had tilted on its axis; she understood why he wanted another child and she had to admit that the idea was an appealing one, but they were just finishing up with one child and he wanted to have another? It was just too much to consider at the moment.

As if reading his wife's mind, Dave picked up her hand and gave it a squeeze, "It's not something we have to decide now, Jen. I know we're going to have a busy month with Abby's prom and graduation and then we'll both want to spend as much time with her as possible over the summer…I guess I just wanted to put the idea in your head so you can think about it over the next couple of months."

"I…I will Dave," she promised, still in somewhat of a daze.

"Good," he said and then stood up and held his hand out to her. "Well, I'm going to jump in the shower, care to join me?"

That brought her out of her shock. "Sure," she said, taking the offered hand. After all, they'd promised their daughter they would restrict their activities to their bedroom and the master bathroom was technically part of that room.


	107. Chapter 108

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 108

**~Wow, so I can FINALLY log into ff .net! What's up with that? Between not being able to log in, not being able to access chapters of stories and the traffic stats being all fluky...well, it's been an interesting few days. I'm still a little nervous posting today since the site is still acting weird…**

**~We're coming into the home stretch of this story. Only few more chapters before the prom and then a few more chapters until graduation. If anyone has anything else they want to see in this story, shoot me a PM or put it in a review and I'll see what I can do.**

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Two hours later, as she sat at the table on the back deck, supposedly reading her book, JJ stared at her daughter as she studied and played the conversation she'd had with her husband over and over in her head. Dave wanted another child but did she? Now that she had finally raised Abby to be a productive member of society, did she really want to go through it all again? She had lucked out with her daughter, who had been a well-behaved and mild mannered child, but who knew what they would get if they tried again? What if they got one of the kids they had seen turn into ruthless unsubs? What if their child turned out to be the opposite of Abby? What if…she shook her head slightly as if to shake the 'what if' notions out of her brain; the truth was that she wasn't sure if she wanted to go through everything again. Sure, this time she would have help from the father and they wouldn't be as worried about money, but this was supposed to be her time with her new husband and she wasn't sure if she wanted anything to jeopardize that.

On the other hand, she thought as she took a sip of her iced tea, she loved her daughter with all of her heart and she sincerely enjoyed being a mother. Knowing she wouldn't have to do it alone on a tiny budget made the thought of having another child much more appealing and she couldn't help smiling at the thought of her husband changing dirty diapers or running around the yard, throwing a football to their son. Her smile grew as she imagined family Christmases or other get-togethers with Abby and her younger brother posing for pictures, or playing in the snow together…God, as she imagined it, her want of another child grew and she found herself seriously considering her husband's idea, even though it would be potentially risky going through a surrogate. What if, at the end of the pregnancy, the mother tried to keep the baby? How would custody work? Where would they even find someone willing to do it for them? Thankfully she had time to consider things since she and Dave probably wouldn't even begin to seriously discuss it until they had Abby moved to UC Berkeley.

As she mulled the idea over in her head, JJ became aware that her daughter was saying something to her. "I'm sorry, what was that?" She asked.

Abby smiled, "I said, you looked like you were a million miles away. What's on your mind?" She asked.

JJ shook her head slightly, "Not much," she fibbed, "Just some random stuff." There was no WAY she was going to mention the idea of surrogacy to Abby, at least not until she and Dave became serious about it, if they ever even got to that point.

Abby knew her mom was lying, but she let it go. "'Kay," she said as she went back to her homework.

A few minutes later, Dave stepped out onto the deck and made his way over to them. "Phone call for you, Abby," he said, holding out the cordless phone to her. "It's Jack."

"Thanks dad," she said as she took the phone from him. To his surprise, Abby hit the disconnect button and then set the phone down on the table.

"What the-" Dave started to ask, but the phone began ringing again. When his daughter didn't move to answer it, he picked it up. "Hey Jack, I don't know what happened there, but here she is," he said and then handed the phone to Abby again. Once again, she took the phone, hit the disconnect button and calmly set it down on the table.

"Did something happen between you and Jack?" JJ asked as the phone rang again. Abby picked it up, looked at the caller ID, hit the talk button and then quickly hit the disconnect button.

"Why would you think that?" She asked innocently, as the phone rang yet again. Abby glanced at the caller id, hissed, "Take the hint, asshole," and then picked it up. Before Jack could say anything, she snarled, "You want me to stay out of your life? Fine, but then stay the hell out of mine!" With that, she punched the disconnect button and slammed the phone down onto the table. It didn't ring after that.

"What the hell happened?" Dave asked incredulously. "You normally look for any reason to talk to Jack and now you won't even take his calls? Did you two have a fight?"

Abby sighed and thought back to their shouting match at lunch…

"So is your dad going to help chaperone the big post-prom party at the cabin?" Abby asked as they got their food from the cafeteria line.

Jack shrugged as he put a piece of pie on his tray; it fit right in with his large hamburger and French fries. As Abby moved past the dessert section, he put a piece on her tray as well, since he wanted a second piece, but it looked odd between her chef's salad and fruit salad. "I don't know and I don't really care," he said as they got in line to pay. Once they got to the front, he paid for his own lunch and slipped Abby two bucks for his piece of pie. While he paid when they went out on dates, they each paid for their own lunches since they both got lunch money from their parents.

Once they were through the line, they found Becca and a few more of their friends sitting at their normal table and they joined them. After a few minutes of chit-chat and eating, Abby went back to the earlier conversation she had been having with Jack. "So you and Uncle Aaron still aren't talking?"

"Not much," Jack said, staring intently at his hamburger. "We do the whole 'how was your day' thing, but that's about it. Hell, half the time I don't even eat with them."

"I thought Emily made him promise not to be an ass to you until you left?" Abby said, recalling the conversation they'd all had at the cabin.

"Yeah, well, what can I say? Dad barely talks to me anymore. Even when we're in the same room, which isn't often, we pretty much just watch TV or something,"

"That's not right," she said with a frown.

"Just drop it, Abby," Jack said. "I leave in a couple of months and I can deal with it until then."

Abby was so disturbed by the thought of Jack and her uncle fighting that she missed the warning tone in his voice and the annoyed expression on his face.

"No, you and your dad need to get past this before you leave. What are you going to do, never come home again? We should think of a way that you can talk to him and let him know he's being a jerk to you. How about we take him out to dinner and we can-" Jack interrupted her before she could finish outlining her idea.

"God Abby, will you just let it go?" He yelled. The entire table and some of the nearby students became quiet as they listened to the seemingly perfect couple's argument. "My dad and I don't have the same relationship as you do with your parents! Not everything is perfect at my house the way it is in the Rossi household! Your parents see you and treat you like an adult, an equal, while my dad still thinks I'm some little kid who needs to be sheltered and protected! Not everyone got the fairytale the way you did, so don't sit there and tell me what I need to do to fix my relationship with my dad when you have no idea what in the hell you're talking about!"

Abby sat there in shock as she listened to her best friend and boyfriend yell at her. Her shock turned to embarrassment when she realized that most of the people around them had stopped their conversations in order to listen to what was happening between them. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, "I was just trying to help."

Jack snorted, "You sit there in your perfect life with your perfect parents in your perfect house and you try to help us lower beings? You can't even fathom what it's like to live with a father who holds a grudge against you for wanting to try new things and you sure as hell don't know what it's like to have your dad be this giant role model that you know you'll never be able to match. _Your _parents just want you to go out into the world and be happy while _my _dad has expectations for me, he wants me to be his clone and it doesn't help that he's perfect; he always has been and always will be and I know I'll never be able to live up to the bar he set!"

"Well how am I supposed to know you feel like this when you've never talked to me about these things?" Abby asked as her embarrassment turned to anger. She knew she sounded a lot like her parents, but she didn't care at that particular moment, the only thing she cared about was defending herself against her boyfriend. "I'm supposed to be your girlfriend…no, I'm supposed to be your _best _friend, but you've never told me how you feel, you've never even _mentioned _your problems with your dad! I'm not a mind reader, Jack, so don't yell at me for not knowing these things!" She said loudly.

"I'm sorry I don't feel the need to share every facet of my life with you, but there are some things I keep to myself and I don't need you to fix them, just like I don't need you to fix my relationship with my dad. Just stay the hell out of it, Abby!" He said angrily.

"Oh, I'll stay out of it all right!" She yelled. "Don't worry; I won't give it another thought!"

"Good, and while you're at it, stay the hell out of the rest of my life too!" He yelled.

"No problem!" She exclaimed as she stood up and grabbed her book bag. "I won't _ever_ inquire about how you're doing again! It should be easy since I plan on never _speaking _to you again!" She shouted and then turned and practically ran out of the cafeteria.

"…and that's what happened between me and Jack," Abby said as she finished recapping their fight for her parents.

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry but I'm sure you and Jack will make up," JJ said.

Abby shook her head, "I don't know, mom. I mean, we've fought before but never like this. It was so loud and so _public_; he humiliated me in front of everyone!" Tears sprang to her eyes and JJ felt her heart break for her. Unfortunately Dave, having all of the tact of a bull in a china shop, spoke from his heart.

"I don't know Abby, it seems like Jack might have a point; you have to learn that you can't fix everything. Maybe he and Aaron _should_ work things out for themselves."

Abby stared at her father in open-mouthed outrage while her mother just shook her head. "So you think it was okay for Jack to be an ass to me?" Abby asked loudly. "It was fine for him to say those things to me and humiliate me in front of the entire school? He was right to yell at me like that?"

"No, I'm not saying that," Dave said, defending himself. "I'm saying I can see where he's coming from; sometimes you just have to let things happen naturally instead of interfering."

"Interfering?" Abby screeched. "Excuse the hell out of me for wanting to see Uncle Aaron and Jack happy! I saw it more as _helping, _but I guess mom and I have been _interfering_ all of these years!"

"Abby," JJ said, but the teen was too far gone by that point. First she had to deal with her boyfriend being an asshole towards her and now she had to deal with her dad?

"No," she said as she got up and gathered her books up. "I don't even know why I expected you to understand, dad; you men are all alike! You all just _have_ to agree with each other, don't you? You guys and your stupid 'bro code!' Well excuse me if I don't want to stay here and listen to it again!" With that, she stormed into the house and up to her room. A minute later, both he and JJ heard her bedroom door slam loudly.

Sighing, Dave turned toward his wife who had an incredulous look on her face. "What?" He asked, still not quite sure what he had done to cause that scene.

Shaking her head slightly and looking at him like he was the world's biggest idiot, she said, "Don't you know that you should _always _take your daughter's side when she's arguing with a friend or boyfriend?" Was he really that dense, she wondered?

"Yeah, but she's wrong this time," Dave said.

"It doesn't matter," JJ told him, "You still take her side. God, I thought everyone knew that!"

"Well apparently I didn't," he said, annoyed.

"Great! Now, on top of dealing with the large post-prom party and her upcoming graduation, you've managed to spark another skirmish with our daughter. If you want peace to reign in our house, I suggest you go apologize to her," she said and felt her heart plummet when he shook his head.

"No way! I'm right and she's wrong and there's no _way_ I'm apologizing," he said firmly.

JJ just shook her head; so much for a nice night with her husband.

xxxxxxxxxx

At the Hotchner house, Jack stared at his silent cell phone and shook his head, he knew he fucked up big time with his girlfriend and he wasn't quite sure what to do about it. Part of him knew that he had a valid point; it wasn't her job to fix things between him and his father and she really didn't know what she was talking about in terms of their relationship, but he knew he shouldn't have reacted the way he had, especially not in the middle of the cafeteria.

"Everything okay?" He was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't heard Emily come into the kitchen. He stared at his phone for another minute and finally shook his head.

"Not really," he said. "Abby won't talk to me."

"What happened?" She asked as she sat down at the table. She could tell by his demeanor that something big had happened and she was hoping he'd tell her about it, but she didn't want to push him. She was still finding her footing in her relationship with Jack and she knew that if she pried into his life or tried to take a parental role towards him, he would push her away.

The teen sighed and flopped into a chair across from her, "Abby and I had a fight," he told her. "It was stupid; she asked me a question about my dad and I told her that we weren't talking all that much and she immediately wanted to try and fix it."

"Okay," Emily said, "That couldn't have been a huge surprise to you. You've known her and JJ for years, can you see either of them staying out of a fracas between you and your dad?" She loved JJ like a sister, but she knew her friend could be nosy when it came to Aaron and Jack, it came from years of being a part of their pseudo-family.

"It didn't but I was in a bad mood already and when Abby wouldn't let the subject drop, I snapped," the teen admitted.

"What did you do?" Emily asked.

"I told her that it was none of her business. I told her that just because she got the fairytale ending it doesn't mean she has to try and get it for all of us. I told her that she had no idea what it was like trying to live up to high parental expectations since hers really didn't have any for her and then I ended it by telling her to stay out of my life." As Jack recounted their argument, he felt like a royal ass for all of the things he'd said to her.

"That's not so bad," Emily told him. "You'll have to do some groveling, but-"

"I did all of this in the cafeteria, in front of our friends and everyone else who was eating lunch and I did it loudly," he admitted.

"Oh." The rest of the story stopped Emily cold, "So you basically humiliated her in front of everyone?"

Jack nodded as he remembered how red Abby's face had gotten when he began to yell at her. He knew she guarded her privacy and with everything that had happened earlier in the spring and now with Principal Greene gunning for her, well…he knew he had done just about the worst thing he could have to her.

"And," Emily continued, "You did it less than a week before prom?" Jack nodded again; he knew this had catapulted him into the Class A asshole ranking.

"Wow," the profiler said, shaking her head, "This is worse than I thought. Don't you know that the _worst _thing you can do to a teenage girl is embarrass her in front of her friends? And now she's not sure if she'll be going to one of the biggest events of the year? God Jack, you took an already stressed out girl and made things much worse! You might think she was wrong to try and butt into yours and your father's relationship, which she wasn't, but what you did was much worse. You're really going to have to work to make it up to her!"

"I _know _that," Jack said, "But she won't even talk to me! How am I supposed to make it up to her when she won't take my calls?"

Emily shook her head, "I don't know," she murmured and then thought for a minute. "Normally I wouldn't get involved in this type of thing, but since the prom is only four days away, you'll need to fix this quickly. Leave her alone tonight, let her calm down without having to deal with phone calls from you and then gauge her mood tomorrow at school. If she's receptive to talking, then get down on your knees and beg for forgiveness. I'll talk to JJ and Dave tomorrow to see what can be done on their end."

"Thanks Emily," Jack said gratefully.

She looked dubious, "You'd better pray this works, Jack, because if she misses her prom because of this, she'll hold a grudge against you that will make this one look like nothing. Remember, she has her dad _and _Garcia in her corner. Do you really want to tangle with either of them?"

"No," Jack said with a shudder.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, each of them plotting their moves for the next day, when Emily spoke again. "Abby _did_ have a point, though. You and your dad have to get on better terms."

"Emily, we-" Jack started to protest, but Emily wouldn't let him.

"Look Jack, I know you and your dad have never had a warm and fuzzy relationship, but you guys have always been close and I hate seeing you this way. You two need to talk," she told him firmly.

"Yeah, except he's another person who won't talk to me," Jack said, wondering how he had managed to piss off two of the people he loved most in his life.

"_I'll _talk to him about that," Emily said. "He promised he wouldn't act like an asshole towards you and that's exactly what he's doing."

Jack shook his head, "No he's not, he's just angry…he's angry that his son has become such a massive disappointment to him."

Emily opened her mouth to refute his claim, but she was cut off by a new voice.

"You are _not_ a disappointment to me, Jack," Hotch said from the doorway.


	108. Chapter 109

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 109

**~I didn't think I would get this story updated this week. I'm on vacation and I always tell myself that I won't do any work, but I always end up turning on my laptop. Since I was already working on a paper, I decided to finish this chapter and post it. Enjoy!**

**~I haven't forgotten about my other story, _The April Fool_. I'll try and get the final chapter posted soon, but I can't promise anything. Today's my birthday and I'll be celebrating with my friends who are on vacation with me, so it will probably be a few days before I get it posted. **

* * *

"Whatever dad," Jack said with a shrug, "I know I am."

"_No_," Hotch said forcefully, "You're not! You are many things, Jack; stubborn, hot headed, closed off, but one thing you are _not_ is a disappointment."

"Thanks, I think," his son said, wanting to remind his dad that all of the characteristics he ticked off were ones that they shared.

"I'm going to leave you two alone," Emily said, picking up her bag.

"No, stay Emily; I still need your help with getting Abby to talk to me again." Jack looked desperate, so she nodded.

"I'll stay, but I'll be in the bedroom; you and your dad need to talk alone. Call me when you're ready to strategize over your relationship with Abby," she told him and then left the room. Both men heard the bedroom door shut and suddenly neither of them knew what to say. They sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few moments before Jack finally broke the ice.

"If I'm not some huge disappointment to you, then why haven't you talked to me since I told you I wasn't going to college? It feels like because I didn't choose the path you wanted me to, you don't respect me anymore," he said.

Hotch shook his head as he sat down at the table across from his son, "Jack, I-" he began but then stopped as if he wasn't quite sure what to say, which was a new feeling for him. He thought for a second and then decided to speak from his heart. "Jack, you and I never had the type of relationship that movies are made of. I love you more than anything on this planet and we've always been close, but I can be cold, reserved and a pain in the ass sometimes. Even though I've never been father of the year, we've always been able to talk to each other, yet you made one of the biggest decisions of your life without even mentioning it to me! You waited until after you were sure of your decision to tell me about it and even then you let me know that my input wasn't valued. I guess I've been keeping a low profile around you lately because I don't know how to relate to you anymore…I'm not sure what you want my role to be in your life."

Jack was floored, he had no idea that his father felt this way. "Jeez dad, I guess I didn't ask for your input about college because I knew you would want me to go right away, but that doesn't mean I don't want to talk to you anymore! You're still my dad and I still value your advice and your opinion of me. I don't want to lose that part of our relationship."

"But it can't work both ways like that, son," Hotch told him. "You can't ask for my counsel for some things and then keep me totally out of the loop on others, especially if it's because you already know my answer isn't one you'll want to hear. Yeah, if you'd asked me about taking a year off, I would have tried my damnedest to get you to go to college in the fall, but it would have been a much calmer discussion. I only reacted the way I did because you totally blindsided me when you told me about your plans."

Jack looked surprised, "I guess I never thought about it like that, I was just trying to be adult about it."

"But making adult decisions doesn't mean making them by yourself. Whether you like it or not, you share your space and most of your life with me and, after all of these years together, I deserve to have at least a little bit of say in what you do," he told his son. "Throughout your life, I let you have input on every single major decision that affected both of our lives; I made sure you were okay when I sold the house and we moved into this apartment, I pretty much asked your permission to return to the BAU after your mom died and I ran it past you when I asked Emily to move in with us. Can you honestly think of a time when I just unilaterally made a major decision without talking to you about it ahead of time?"

"No," Jack admitted.

"Because I never did," Hotch told him. "I might not have made the choices you wanted me to, but I let you have your say about them beforehand. Jack, making adult decisions isn't about making them by yourself, it's about making informed decisions.

"I guess I never thought about it that way," Jack said. "I'm sorry, dad."

Hotch smiled gently at his son, "I'm sorry too, Jack. Even though your announcement threw me for a total loop, I could have reacted better. Part of me is jealous of you; I also wanted to see the world when I was younger, but my parents insisted that I go to college right away."

"_You_?" Jack asked incredulously. "YOU wanted to buck the system? You didn't want to do everything just right?"

"Hey, I wasn't always so straight-laced," he protested. "I was known to let my hair down back in the day." Jack snorted at that image, and Hotch laughed but then sobered up. "I don't want to lose you over this, Jack. I know that I have to realize you're an adult now, but you also have to keep in mind that I'll always be your dad, whether you're eighteen or fifty-eight and I'll always want a say in what you do. I can't just turn off the parenting instinct."

"I know, but you need to give me a little more slack, dad," Jack said. "I know that with all of the horrible things you've seen in your job you'll always be protective of me, but you can't keep treating me like a little kid. I know I'm not ready to be totally on my own right now, but you've got to loosen up."

"I'll try," he promised. "But it won't be easy; you're my baby boy for God's sake, but I'll try."

"Okay, and I'll try to remember to at least get your opinion on things before I make major decisions," Jack pledged.

Once again, they both sat in silence for a minute, but this time it was much more companionable. "So you and Abby are having problems?" Hotch finally asked, remembering what Emily said before she left the room.

Jack nodded, "I was an ass to her today and I took out a lot of my frustrations with you onto her."

"What did you do?" His father asked.

"I kinda yelled at her in front of the entire cafeteria," Jack admitted sheepishly. "I feel awful about it and I've tried calling her, but she won't even take my calls!"

"So you pissed your girlfriend off four days before the prom? Wow, you really do take after me in dealing with women," Hotch muttered.

"What do I do to fix it?" Jack asked desperately.

Hotch didn't answer him, instead he called out, "Emily!"

xxxxxxxxxx

Later that night, Abby left her bedroom in search of her father. It was nearly eleven o'clock and she hadn't talked to him since her blowup on the deck and the more she thought about it, the worse she felt. It wasn't her dad's fault that her boyfriend was an asshole to her and she knew she shouldn't have yelled at him the way she did, so she was going to apologize to him, as hard as that was for her. Like her dad, she had problem verbalizing that particular s-word and she hoped he would take pity on her and not drag it out.

As she made her way down to the first floor, she noticed the light was on in the study and she assumed he was in there. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to enter the room that was the scene of so many of her nightmares.

Dave looked up in surprise as she came into the study. "Pumpkin!" He exclaimed, shocked to see her in the room where they had fought for their lives two months earlier, "What are you doing in here?"

"Looking for you," she told him as she stood just inside the doorway. She could feel her heart rate increase almost exponentially and a sense of panic crept into her brain, but she remained where she was. "I wanted to apologize to you for earlier; I never should have called you an asshole."

Dave frowned, "You never called me an asshole," he said.

"Oh, I guess I just called you one in my mind then," she said. "Anyway, I shouldn't have reacted the way I did; I was pissed at Jack and I took it out on you and I'm sorry."

Her dad thought for a minute, "No, you shouldn't have, but I understand. You and I are a lot alike, Abby," he said and smiled wryly when she made a face. "We tend to take our anger and frustrations out on the ones we love because we know they'll always be around for us, no matter how badly we act."

The teen thought for a second and then reluctantly nodded, "Yeah, I guess we do. Anyway, I really _am _sorry about earlier," she said as she looked around the room uneasily...she still hated being in there. "I'm really stressed out right now and that hasn't been helping my mood."

Dave saw the tension in his daughter's expression and the remaining annoyance he felt about her tantrum earlier that afternoon melted. "It really is okay, Abby," he reassured her.

"Good," she said with a small smile and at that moment, her stomach growled loudly; she hadn't eaten dinner with her parents, since she'd still been pissed at her father, and she'd been working on a project for school for the last few hours and she was hungrier than she'd thought.

Dave heard her stomach rumble and stood up. "C'mon," he said, walking towards the door. "I'll heat up some dinner leftovers for you."

Abby shook her head as he propelled her down the hallway, past the great room and into the kitchen. "I'm not that hungry, dad, I think I'm just going to go to bed."

"I don't think so," he said, pointing to the stools at the breakfast bar. "You need to eat."

"Fine," she sighed as she sat down on one of the stools. She watched as her dad took out the leftover ravioli and fixed a plate for her. Two minutes later, the food was done in the microwave and he set it down in front of her, along with a fork and a glass of milk.

"Bon apatite," he said as he sat down next to her. For the first few minutes, he was content to just watch her eat, but then he thought back to what she'd said in the study and he couldn't let it drop. "What has you so stressed out?" He asked.

Abby shrugged as she took a drink of the milk. "What _doesn't _have me stressed out at this point?" She asked rhetorically. Seeing her father's eyebrow quirk, she decided to elaborate. "It just seems like everything is happening at once. I'm nervous about the prom, you know, now that I'm not sure if I'm going-"

"You and Jack will make up before then," Dave interrupted.

Abby just shook her head lightly, "Then there are a million things to do for the post-prom party-"

Once again, Dave interrupted his daughter, "There is nothing for you to worry about with that, Pumpkin; your mom, grandmother, myself and the team will take care of all of that; all you have to do is show up after the big dance."

"But I feel like I should help. After all, you're throwing it for me and my friends because I can't go to the school sponsored one."

"Don't worry about it," he reiterated. "It will all be taken care of."

The teen rolled her eyes and smiled slightly, "If you say so."

"I do," Dave said firmly. "Now what else are you worried about?"

"Berkeley," she replied. "I know I'm not moving for another four months, but I'm already nervous about moving so far away."

"That's natural, Abby," Dave said, but what he really wanted to say was 'Don't go! Stay here, live here!' But he didn't. As much as he wanted his daughter to stay near them, he knew that if she didn't at least _try_ UC Berkeley, she would regret it for the rest of her life.

"Yeah, but is it natural to worry that you'll wake your roommate with your screams every night?"

"You don't have nightmares every night any more, do you?" Dave was worried that she was keeping things from them and he was relieved when she shook her head.

"Not every night, but I get more of them when I'm stressed, like now," she told him.

"Yeah, but you'll be much better by August…hell, you're already getting there right now. You willingly entered the study tonight; you never would have done that three weeks ago."

"I guess you're right," Abby said, not totally convinced.

"I always am," He said with a smile, which grew when he heard his daughter's snort. "What else is on your mind?"

"Well, there's graduation and all of the stuff that goes along with that, but I have to get through my classes before then and I have a huge exam coming up for AP Chemistry, a paper for history that's worth a quarter of my grade, another paper for English lit that's worth nearly half of my grade and I have a HUGE project due in French class. There are only so many hours in the day and it's just not enough!" By this point, Abby had set her fork down, her appetite gone.

"Honey," Dave said gently, "It's your senior year, you've been accepted at many fine colleges and you've already learned you won't be the valedictorian. Why are you working so hard? This is the time for you to slack off a little. I'm not saying you should fail your classes, but you don't have to be perfect."

She looked at him incredulously, "I'm sorry, I understood each individual word in those sentences, but not the way in which you used them together."

Dave snorted at her sarcasm and was about to reply when a new voice chimed in from the doorway. "You _don't _have to be perfect, Abby," JJ said as she walked into the room. Dave got up and offered her his seat at the breakfast bar and then stood on the other side of it so he could both wash Abby's dishes and face his two girls.

"Yes I do," Abby argued, but it wasn't an angry argument, it was as if she was simply stating the facts. "I've always had to do well in school! I love you mom, but you always pounded it into my head that if I wanted to go to a good college, I needed to get good grades and in order to do that, I had to be perfect."

JJ shook her head, "You're right, you needed to do well in order to get a scholarship, but I _never_ meant you had to be perfect." God, is that really how her daughter had felt all of these years? That she had to be perfect in order to succeed?

"Well now's a great time to finally tell me that," Abby said, mostly joking but there was a tiny bit of annoyance in her statement.

"I'm sorry if you've always felt that way, honey," JJ said, feeling awful.

Abby shrugged as she stood up from her seat, "Whatever," she said. "It's too late for me to change now."

"But-" JJ started, but Abby cut her off.

"Really mom, it's okay," she told her, "I don't mind striving for perfection. Now, if you two don't mind, I'm going to bed."

"'Night Pumpkin," Dave said as she left the room. Once she was gone, the kitchen was silent as JJ tried to wrap her mind around what her daughter had just said.

"Did I really put that expectation on her?" She asked. "Does she really think she has to be perfect?"

Dave shook his head, "You've been a great mom to her, honey, and she knew what she needed to do to go to college." He knew he hadn't really answered the question, but he honestly wasn't sure how he could. "Besides, we have bigger fish to fry this week. How in the hell are we going to get Abby back with Jack so they can attend the prom?"

JJ shook her head, "It's going to take a miracle of epic proportions."

"Hopefully Aaron and I, being two world-renowned negotiators can help them find peace," Dave told her, already starting to plan his strategy.


	109. Chapter 110

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 1 10

**~ Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated! There's nothing like family drama to bring on a world class case of writer's block. **

**~This is a monster of a chapter, but I figured since I haven't posted in two weeks (!), I would leave it as it is instead of breaking it up. Enjoy!**

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"Hey dad." Dave looked up from his paperwork the next afternoon and saw his daughter entering his office. He was at the BAU at the request of his unit chief; apparently they were overloaded with requests for consults and he'd practically begged him to come in for the day and help them out.

"Hey Pumpkin," he replied, smiling as she set a large cup of coffee down in front of him. "Did you stop at Starbucks on your way here?"

She shook her head in mild disgust, "_No, _I stopped at Jovial Java. Why would I want some of that overpriced, shitty coffee?"

Biting back a smile, he replied, "Sorry Pumpkin, I didn't mean to offend you."

Abby smiled, "Since you apologized, I'll also give you this." She reached into her bag and pulled out a cheese Danish, which was one of her dad's favorite sweet treats.

"Did Patty make that?" He drooled as he stared at it. The proprietor of the local coffee shop was one of the best bakers he knew.

"Yup, _and _she put in extra cheese filling for you," she told him as she handed it to him.

Dave held the pastry almost reverently and continued to stare at it for a moment before he removed the saran wrap and took a big bite. "See," he said through his mouthful of food, "_this_ is why you can't move to Berkeley in the fall. Who else is going to supply me with caffeine and sugar in the afternoons?"

Abby grinned as she sat down on the sofa in his office, "Maybe mom will fill that void for you."

"Not gonna happen," he said as he took another bite. "She's already talking about making major changes to our diets once you're out of the house."

The term 'out of the house' freaked Abby out a little bit so she changed the subject. "Speaking of mom, where is she? I thought she'd be in here with you since her temporary replacement is using her office. I brought her some coffee too," she said pointing at the lone cup that was sitting on Dave's desk.

"She was working in here, but Agent Todd had some questions for her so she's helping her out. I _told _her this would happen if she came in," Dave said. JJ had come to the BAU with her husband under the guise of visiting her friends and getting caught up on a little paperwork. As soon as she had set one foot in the building, it seemed as if she had been inundated with requests for assistance and, as a result, he hadn't seen her for most of the day. Since she was mostly healed from her gunshot wound, it didn't bother him _too _much, but he was used to being near her all day and he found himself missing her.

"Any news about my car?" Abby asked as she spread her schoolwork out all over the couch. The reason she was meeting her parents at the BAU was because when she'd started her car that morning, it had made a weird noise and it had driven very sluggishly. As a result, Dave had driven her car into the city to his mechanic, while JJ had driven her to school and then picked him up on the way to the BAU.

"They're working on it," he replied, "Something happened to one of the belts and I guess it's throwing everything out of whack. Jerry said he'd have it back to you by tomorrow afternoon."

"Okay," she said with a sigh; she supposed she could live without her car for one more day.

"Did you talk to Jack today?" Dave asked, hoping the answer was yes. Normally he wouldn't get involved in his daughter's love life, unless it was to scare a guy off, but he knew that eventually she and Jack would make up and he didn't want her missing her prom.

"No," she said testily, hoping her dad would get the message and leave that subject alone. Thankfully he simply nodded and went back to work on his computer. Abby picked up one of her books and began reading and for the next hour and a half, silence reigned in Dave's office.

Meanwhile, next door in his office, Hotch was awaiting the arrival of his son. He had called him under the guise of grabbing a bite to eat with him, but what he really wanted, along with Dave, JJ and Emily, was to get Abby and Jack in the same room and negotiate a peace treaty between the two of them. Like Dave, he was hesitant to get involved in his son's love life, but Abby was different. Hotch was fairly certain the two of them would make up eventually and, like Dave and JJ, he didn't want his son missing out on one of the biggest social rituals of high school, so he was willing to jump into the fray on this one. He was pulled from his reverie by a knock on his open door.

"Hi dad, are you ready to go?" Jack asked. From the stack of papers on his dad's desk, he was pretty sure the answer was going to be 'no' and he felt a pang of disappointment.

"Sorry Jack, I thought I'd be done with all of this by now, but I think it's going to be a late night."

"That's okay, dad," Jack replied, "Some other time." He turned to leave but was stopped by his dad's voice.

"Actually, we ordered pizza and it was just delivered to the conference room. I know it's not dinner out, but do you want to eat there?" Hotch asked, hoping his son would say yes. To his relief, Jack nodded.

"Sure," he said; he was a teenage boy and by default, he was _always _up for pizza!

"Great," Hotch said, getting up from his desk, "Let's get there before Reid eats all of it."

As they passed by Dave's office, which Jack didn't see was occupied, Hotch gave him a slight nod. Dave waited a few minutes, until his wife came in, and then woke his napping daughter.

Giving her shoulder a gentle shake, he said, "Wake up, Pumpkin, its dinner time."

Abby sat up groggily, "What? Where…crap, I fell asleep!" She exclaimed. "Dammit, I really wanted to get of my reading done! Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"

Dave shook his head, "Because I know you didn't get a lot of sleep last night, so I thought you could use a nap now," he said. "Especially since you fell asleep right after drinking that large cup of coffee."

Abby was about to open her mouth to say something else, but JJ stopped it.

"Dinner's ready in the conference room," she said smoothly. "How about we go eat and then head home?"

"Okay," she said and Dave was thankful that her mood had returned to normal; the last thing he needed to do was bring a pissy Abby into negotiations with Jack. Someone could get hurt if he did that, and he wasn't sure if it would be his godson or him!

The Rossi family made their way over to the conference room and once they got there, Abby stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Jack sitting there. "What's _he _doing here?" She asked her parents accusingly.

Jack, who was just as surprised at the situation as she was, replied, "Hey, this is as much of a surprise to me as it is to you!" He had tried apologizing to her numerous times throughout the day and she'd shut him out each time, so he wasn't exactly happy with her at the moment either.

"Forget it!" Abby said loudly, "I'm not eating with him, I'll meet you back in your office," she told her dad and then spun on her heel to leave. She took one step away from the room before she felt a strong grip on her upper arm.

"I don't think so, Abby. You need to eat _and _ you need to talk to Jack, so get in there, grab some pizza and sit down," Dave ordered.

Abby stared at him for a moment, debating the pros and cons of arguing with him, but she saw the steely look in his eye and decided she wouldn't win the argument so she followed his instructions. A few minutes later, JJ, Dave, Hotch, Emily, Jack and Abby were all eating in an uncomfortable silence. Morgan and Reid, who had wisely gotten their pizza ahead of time, watched the show from the bullpen.

After another few minutes of silent glares between Jack and Abby, the teenage girl finally broke the silence. "So why do you even care if Jack and I get back together? If I recall, none of you exactly danced a jig when you learned the two of us were an item." The comment was directed at her father, but it was her uncle who answered it.

"If _you'll_ recall, we found out about the two of you by walking in on an intense make out session. It's not exactly the best way to learn about something," Hotch replied. "The reason we're all taking an interest in you and Jack is because we don't want either of you to miss out on your prom just because of a minor incident. Plus, even if you don't get back together as boyfriend and girlfriend, you've always been close friends and we don't want to see that ruined."

Abby, who was still seething at the interference, focused on one word. "Minor?" She screeched. "You think what he did to me was _minor_?" Aaron winced at his niece's tone; he knew he'd fucked up by downplaying their argument and he was about to respond back when Jack jumped into the fray.

"Good God, here we go AGAIN," he said angrily. "How many times have I told you that I'm sorry for what I said? Ten? Twenty? It would be even more if you hadn't hung up on me yesterday! I'm sorry for calling you nosy and I'm sorry for making jabs at your life. I was pissed at my dad and stressed out about everything that's coming up this month and I took it out on you. You were right and I was wrong! What else can I say?" He was nearly shouted.

"You just don't get it, do you?" Abby yelled back. "I don't care that you snapped at me or called me nosy; if it was just that, I would be fine. No, you did it in front of the _entire _cafeteria! You KNOW how hard it's been for me this semester with everyone watching me and you made a spectacle out of us in front of everyone! If you want to be an asshole, fine, but don't be one in public and don't drag me into it!"

"I didn't mean-" Jack tried defending himself, but Abby was on a roll and wouldn't let him get a word in edgewise. "And how _dare _you make inferences about my family! You really think my life is like a fairytale?" She asked rhetorically. "I don't know if you remember, but I spent this past spring watching my parents recover from gunshot wounds while we hid from a psycho intent on killing all of us. What kind of fucked up fairytale do you think I'm living Jack?"

"Hey," JJ interjected quietly, "Watch the language." While she let her daughter get away with swearing, she hated hearing her say the f-word.

"Sorry mom," Abby said and then turned back to the object of her ire. "And do you really think my parents treat me as an adult? An equal? Were you there when I was fighting with them about UC Berkeley? How about when I was grounded for nearly six weeks for sneaking out? Was I an equal then?"

"No, of course not, I was just saying-" Again, he tried defending himself and again, Abby talked over him.

"And I don't know if you realize this or not, but my parents have just as many expectations for me as your dad does for you!" She said loudly, "Maybe even more! You've always known that you were going to college and you were pretty sure it would be a good school. I, on the other hand, had to work my ass off, starting in kindergarten, so that I would have good enough grades for an academic scholarship. Do you _know _how many 'B' papers I rewrote? I would've loved to have been happy with 'A minuses' in school but I couldn't be, I had to be perfect in order to go to a decent school! My middle school and high school years have been filled with intense studying, re-writes and extra credit, so don't you _dare_ say that I haven't had expectations put on me because you don't know what in the hell you're talking about!"

JJ frowned at Abby's words; that was the second time in two days that she'd basically said she'd had to be perfect her entire life and JJ suddenly felt like a terrible mother. She'd never meant to put so much pressure on her daughter and she felt horrible that she felt that way.

"That's not what I meant when I said that," he protested, finally able to get a word in edgewise.

"Then what did you mean?" She asked confrontationally, crossing her arms across her chest.

"What I meant was that I have this huge role model of a father and everyone expects me to do great things because of it! Being the son of Aaron Hotchner comes with many expectations," Jack said hotly. "Do you really think I could just become a waiter or an artist or something like that? No! People expect me to always do well because of who _he _is!"

"Are you an idiot?" Abby asked, astounded. "Do you know who _my_ parents are?" She jerked her thumb at Dave and JJ. "I've heard the same things as you have and people have the same expectations for me! All of my life I've heard about how my mother overcame her asshole father and having a baby at twenty in order to become a rising star in the Bureau. Then, when my father finally came into my life, he's considered to be 'one of the greatest profiling minds in a generation!' How in the hell am I supposed to live up to that? How am I supposed to compare? Don't you see? I'm the one person on this planet who knows what you're going through, but you had to be an unbelievable asshole to me about it!" With that, Abby got up, threw her napkin onto her plate and stormed out of the room.

"See?" Jack said, turning towards his father, "I _told _you she wouldn't listen to me!" He also stood up and stormed out of the room, going the opposite direction that Abby had chosen.

There was a shocked silence in the conference room as the four adults replayed the scene in their heads. Finally, Emily spoke up for the first time. "I don't know about you, JJ, but it was impressive to watch two world class negotiators in action."

JJ snorted at her sarcasm while Hotch's frown deepened, "Are you kidding? _You _try negotiating peace between two fighting teenagers! I don't think Jimmy Carter could have done any better than us." While Hotch was bothered by his son and pseudo-niece's argument, he was bothered more by what Jack had said about living up to the expectations that were placed upon him.

"Let's let them cool off for a couple of minutes and then try another round with them," Dave suggested and everyone at the table nodded in agreement.

Abby, who was royally pissed at both her boyfriend and the ambush her parents had set up, sought refuge in Garcia's lair. She approached the door and knocked. After a few seconds, she heard a voice call out, "Enter the queen's lair if you dare, mere mortal." Abby couldn't help give a brief smile at the invitation and then she entered.

"Abby! What are you doing here?" Garcia asked as she kicked a wheeled office chair at her. Abby sat down and vented to Penelope, starting with her fight with Jack and ending with the events that had just transpired in the conference room.

"That sucks," the tech goddess finally said, "but he's just as stressed as you are right now. I'm sure he didn't mean what he said."

Abby sighed heavily, "But it's not just that, Pen. Hell, we've all lost our tempers at one time or another…it's that he did it in public. He _knows _how much I hate being in the limelight at school and he knows how hard this semester has been for me since the spotlight seems to follow me no matter where I go. To do that…it's like he doesn't know me at all. To think that I was seriously considering sleep-" Abby broke off her train of thought with a shake of her head; no need to get _too _personal with the older woman.

Garcia, who had picked up on what Abby was about to say, filed it away for another time. "Look Sweets, all guys have their asshole moments and it sounds like this was one of Jack's. Was it a shitty thing to do? Yes, but you guys have been through _way _too much together to let this ruin your relationship."

As if he knew they were talking about him, Jack appeared in the open doorway of Garcia's office. "Hey Pen, got a min-" he stopped as soon as he saw Abby sitting in the room.

"Get out!" She hissed and Jack turned to comply when he was stopped by Garcia's voice.

"Come on in, Jack," she said as she kicked another chair to him. He sat down and moved the chair as far away from his girlfriend as possible.

"This is crazy," Pen said, looking at the two kids. "You both have known each other for over eight years, do you really want something as dumb as this to come between you?"

"But-" Jack started just as Abby said, "He-" They were both cut off by firm shake of Garcia's blonde head.

"I know you've tried apologizing Jack, but you have to understand that Abby was really hurt by the fact that you yelled at her in front of the entire cafeteria. And Abby, you need to cut Jack some slack and realize that he needs to work out some of his issues with his dad on his own."

Both kids sat in silence, just glaring at each other, so Penelope continued. "Both of you think of a time where you helped each other out, when you knew that if your parents ever found out about it, you would be in deep shit." She watched as they searched their memories. "Okay, what do you have?"

Jack went first, "Remember when we were eleven and we were at my house and we decided to just take off on our bikes and forgot to leave a note?"

A small smile graced Abby's lips, "I thought your dad was going to kill us when we got home. He looked like he was one phone call away from calling out the SWAT team to look for us."

Jack nodded, "And then I told him we left a note for him on the kitchen table and you backed me up? Hell, we even made a fake note when we were banished to my room for the afternoon, and then hid it under the fridge so it looked like the wind had blown it off of the table."

"And then, when he opened the refrigerator door, he found it and felt really bad about yelling at us!" Abby laughed.

"_And _ he apologized for it!" Jack recalled.

"What did you come up with, Abby?" Garcia asked, with a smile on her face; she wondered if Hotch ever found out that he had apologized to two very guilty kids?

"When we were twelve, there was this guy in Jack's neighborhood that let his dog poop everywhere and he never cleaned it up. Being kids, both of us were always running around barefoot in the summer and we kept stepping in it."

Smiling at the memory, Jack took over. "One day, Abby and I got rubber gloves and a big garbage bag and we collected all of the dog poop in a three block radius, including from a small public park, dumped it all on his front porch, rang the doorbell and then ran."

"Since we had asked him before to clean up after his dog, the guy had a pretty good idea that we were the culprits, so he called Hotch and mom happened to be at the house when he did. We both swore up and down that we didn't do it and we went as far as telling them that we had seen another kid do it." Abby sheepishly smiled as she told that last part.

"I don't think either of them believed us, but they were sick of seeing dog crap all over the place, so they didn't push it with us and the guy started carrying bags with him when he took his dog for a walk," Jack finished.

"See?" Garcia said. "Look at how many memories you have together! You only told me two, but I bet you could have thought of TONS more. Do you really want something this small to tear the two of you apart?"

There was silence for a moment as the two teenagers pondered her words. "I really _am _sorry," Jack finally said. "I shouldn't have yelled at you in front of everyone…I was an asshole."

"And I was a bitch," Abby said with a sigh. "I should have just let it go, but I inherited the 'nosy gene' from my mother…I'm sorry too."

"So…are we okay?" Jack asked tentatively.

Abby nodded, "We are."

"Good," he smiled, "So I shouldn't cancel the Limo for Saturday?" They had rented a limousine to take them to prom and they were sharing it with Becca and her date.

"Nope," Abby said as she got up from her chair. Jack followed suit and they met in the middle of the office for a makeup kiss.

After a minute of watching the kids kiss, Pen finally cleared her throat. "Okay, let's go see if there's any pizza left." The three of them left her office and walked towards the conference room. Jack and Abby paused in the empty bullpen to talk for a minute, while Garcia made her way to the conference room.

"I really am sorry," Jack said. "I know how rough it's been for you this semester."

"It has been, but I'll get over it," she said. "And I'm sorry too, although I kinda want to punch your dad for being such an asshole towards you."

"Hold off on that for awhile," he said. "We pretty much made up yesterday and I want to see how things go before I have my girlfriend beat him up."

"Fair enough," she said as she reached up to give him a tender kiss

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As Garcia walked into the conference room, she heard a heated discussion about the two kids.

"We never should have let them go off while they were angry," JJ said. "Who knows if they're even in the building anymore?"

"Don't worry about that, Cupcake," Pen said and then pointed towards the bullpen. Everyone looked out the windows and saw Jack and Abby holding hands and talking to each other; they were amazed that the kids no longer seemed angry.

"What the hell happened?" Dave asked in confusion.

"They came and visited their Aunt Penelope," Garcia told him. They all watched as the kids shared a tender kiss.

"Awww," JJ and Emily said in unison.

"How in the hell did you manage that?" Hotch asked, just as shocked as Dave was.

"No way, bossman, trade secrets. You and agent badass over there might be the 'experts' at negotiation, but I've learned a few tricks in my life," Pen said as she sat down at the table.

Hotch just shook his head in awe. "Keep a go-bag packed, Garcia, because you're coming with us on every case." The tech goddess just smiled and took a bite of the cold pizza.


	110. Chapter 111

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 111

**~So I'm done with all of my papers, I have my first completely free day off since January, it's 80 degrees out and am I out enjoying it? No, I'm sick! Fever, chills, achy, sick to my stomach, SICK! But my illness is good news for my readers because I was able to write this chapter. I'm on a ton of medicines right now, so I'm sorry if it's a little disjointed.**

* * *

"Ow!" Abby exclaimed as her mother pulled a lock of her long, blond hair out straight and then wound it tightly around a curler. "That's really warm." JJ secured the curler close to her daughter's scalp with a bobby pin and tried not to laugh.

"What exactly do you think a 'hot curler' means?" She asked as she took another section of her hair and repeated the action. Thankfully her daughter had brought her desk chair into the bathroom and was sitting down, otherwise it would have been much harder for JJ to manipulate her hair. She wasn't exactly sure when it happened, but suddenly her daughter was as tall as her and it made her feel a little old.

"I don't know," Abby replied, "I guess I thought it would just kinda be warm." She winced as her mother placed the next curler just as close to her scalp.

"You know, you could have had this done professionally at a salon," JJ told her as she repeated the action.

"No way," Abby said, forgetting about her hair and shaking her head a bit. "You've _always _done my hair before important events and I don't want to change that now." It was prom night and JJ was helping Abby get ready for the big event, but they were having a minor disagreement about the usage of hot curlers.

"Remember my first homecoming dance when I was a freshman?" Abby asked, smiling as she reminisced.

"Yeah, you went with another group of girls and came home at around ten o'clock because it wasn't any fun."

"I was thinking more about the dress I wore; it was hideous!" Abby said, laughing. "Maroon is _so _not a good color on me!"

"But you only told me two days beforehand that you wanted to go to the dance; the dress fit you and it fit our budget," JJ defended, also laughing.

"I swore after that one dance that I would never go to another one, but here I am, getting all gussied up for prom."

"I gotta say, I never envisioned you going to your prom with Jack," JJ said, continuing her assault on Abby's hair.

"I know, but I…I love him. I know it's weird, and it's not the sisterly love I felt for him when I was younger…it's different," she said, looking dreamy. JJ was about to respond when there was a knock at the bathroom door.

"What is it, Dave?" JJ called out.

"Are you both decent? Can I come in?"

Abby had on her slip, but she was also wearing her robe, so she called out, "Come on in, dad."

The door opened and Dave stepped in, holding a granola bar and a glass of milk. "I brought you a snack, Pumpkin." He held the food out to her but was not surprised when she shook her head.

"No thanks, dad, I've already got enough butterflies in my stomach…food will just make it worse."

"Try again, Abby," he said, continuing to hold the food out to her. "You didn't eat much lunch and you know you won't eat much at dinner. If you don't have something in you, you'll get a headache. Do you really want that to happen tonight?"

"No, I guess I don't," she said a she finally took the snack from her dad. She took a bite of the granola bar and washed it down with a big drink of milk. When she set the glass on the counter, she had a large milk mustache and that, combined with her hair in curlers and her makeup half finished, made for a very interesting look.

"Here," he said as he handed her a tissue. She gave him an inquisitive look and he gestured towards her mouth. Abby turned back towards the mirror and noticed the large, white mustache and gave a sheepish smile.

"Thanks, I think that would have ruined the look I'm trying to go for," she said as she wiped it off and then wolfed down the granola bar.

"Anytime, Pumpkin," he said as he watched his wife roll another section of their daughter's hair onto a curler and secure it to her head. Between that, the makeup spread out all over the counter and the girly music playing on the stereo, Dave was suddenly overwhelmed by all of the estrogen in the room. "Do either of you need anything else?" He asked as he picked up the empty milk glass and edged towards the door.

Both of them shook their heads, "No, I think we're good, honey," JJ said as she continued to work on her daughter's tresses.

"Great, I'm going to go back downstairs and check on a couple of things for tonight."

Abby sighed, "I feel bad that I'm not helping you with any of that, after all, it's _my_ post-prom party."

"I've told you a hundred times not to worry about it, Abby," Dave said with a hint of frustration in his voice. "I've got the team coming over early and Penelope has threatened me upon pain of death if I should even _think _of decorating anything before she gets here. The guys will help me set up the heavy stuff and your grandmother should be here soon to start cooking. Believe me, I have everything under control, you just go and have fun."

"Okay," she said with a smile. "Do you want Jack and I to leave prom a little early so we get here before everyone else does?"

Dave shook his head, "I think we can handle it if any of your friends arrive before you do. Seriously Pumpkin, don't worry about it." With that, he took the empty glass and left the room.

Abby watched him leave and then turned back to the mirror and saw that her mother had a dreamy smile on her face. "What?" She asked.

JJ shook her head slightly, still smiling. "I just never thought I'd see the day when David Rossi would cater to the needs of an eighteen year old girl."

"Yeah, he can be pretty useful," Abby said jokingly. "I'm glad we kept him around."

Dave, who had been halfway across Abby's room, paused when he heard his name from the open bathroom door. He waited to hear if they were going to say anything else about him and he wasn't disappointed.

"Me too," JJ agreed as she worked on her daughter's hair. "There are times I'm afraid I'll wake up and it will be you and me in our tiny apartment. Not that there was anything wrong with our lives before he came into them, but…" she trailed off at the end, afraid she might have insulted her daughter, but to her relief Abby smiled and picked up the thread.

"But it's different with dad…its better, he makes me feel safe. It's nice knowing that I have two parents who care about me," she told her mom.

"You definitely do," JJ said.

"And it's been nice seeing you so happy, not that you were miserable before dad came back, but…I don't know, it always seemed like you weren't _truly _happy."

"That's because I wasn't," her mom told her. "I think, deep down, that I was always holding out for your father. And I'm not the only one who's happier; having Dave in our lives has been really good for you."

Abby nodded slightly, "I know…even after everything that happened earlier this spring, I still wouldn't trade him for anything in the world."

Dave nearly cried in relief when he heard this; even though his girls had never blamed him for the horrors they had faced, a large part of him wondered if deep down they did. After all, it was his ex-wife that had caused all of the grief and if he hadn't become a part of their lives, then none of it would have happened. It felt like a weight had been lifted from his chest and he should've listened to his gut and left the room, but he didn't and unfortunately he heard what came next.

"Abby, quit bouncing around," JJ ordered as she finished the last part of the girl's hair.

"I can't help it," she said as she squirmed slightly, "I'm excited about tonight…and nervous too!"

JJ could understand the excited part, but nervous? "What are you nervous about?"

"A lot of things. What if I spill my dinner down the front of my dress? What if I trip as we enter the dance? What if the dance sucks? Plus, this is a big event for Jack and I, what if it doesn't go perfectly?"

"Honey, nothing is ever going to go perfectly but you're not going to spill anything on your dress and you won't trip." JJ paused and thought for a minute, "Are you nervous about being with Jack tonight? Do we need to talk about that?"

"About what?" Abby asked, not understanding at first, but then a light bulb went on in her head. "Are you talking about sex?" JJ nodded. "No, we don't have to talk about it; I promised dad that I wouldn't and I was serious about that."

"Okay honey, I was just checking," JJ said, breathing a mental sigh of relief. Her relief and her eavesdropping husband's were short lived however.

"Um, but mom?" Abby said, turning slightly red, "We may need to talk about it soon…_really _soon…but not tonight."

JJ took a deep breath, "Whenever you want to talk about it, come and find me, okay?"

"'Kay," Abby said and they let the subject drop as JJ finished putting her hair up.

Dave, who by that point was wishing he'd left the room earlier, decided to put the information he'd just heard into a big box in his head; he knew that if he dwelled on it, he probably wouldn't let his daughter out of the house until she was forty and no one needed to deal with that tonight.

xxxxxxxxxx

At the Hotchner house, Jack was in the middle of his third attempt at tying his bowtie when there was a knock on his bedroom door. "Come in," he said as he nearly strangled himself with the damned tie.

Hotch entered the room, "How's it going?" He asked, just in time to see his son nearly rip his tie off and throw it on the bed.

"Since I've decided to go tieless, it's going well," he said.

Hotch chuckled, picked the offending piece of clothing up off of the bed and moved towards his son. Threading it through his collar, he began expertly tying it.

"Is there anything you don't know how to do?" Jack asked.

His dad ignored his question and asked one of his own. "Do you have everything set?"

"Yup," Jack responded. "Abby's corsage is in the fridge, I checked on the dinner reservations and they're still set, the limo is going to pick us up at Abby's house twenty minutes after we arrive, and her car is at the DAR hall and she'll drive us back to the cabin. All in all, I think everything is covered."

"Good," Hotch said as finished the bowtie. He took a step back from his son and just looked at him for a minute; when the hell had become so grown up? "No drinking tonight; if the punch is spiked, just leave it alone. Also, keep an eye on Abby; the prom can get a little wild and neither of us want some guy trying anything with her." He paused for a minute and then bit out his last instruction, "And no sex."

"Dad!" Jack said, turning red.

"I mean it, Jack," he said firmly. "Trust me, you don't want either of your first times to be in some back room at prom; you want it to be special for both you _and _Abby."

"So…you're not telling me not to do it at all, just not tonight?"

Hotch nodded, "I'm not an idiot, son, I know you're not going to remain a virgin forever and, as much as I would love for you to wait until you're married, I also know that probably won't happen. When the time comes, I want you to be careful and I want you to make sure to take her feelings into consideration. Just remember, her parents are two of the best shots in the Bureau and if you hurt her, there will be nothing I can do to save you."

"No kidding," Jack agreed, "But I would never hurt her and when the time comes I _will _make it special for her…and me."

Hotch opened his mouth to say something else, but at that moment, Emily appeared in the doorway of Jack's room with a camera and suddenly there was a bright flash.

"Okay, now I need one of you pretending to tie Jack's tie," Emily said as snapped another picture. "Now I need one of…" And it was another thirty minutes before anyone left the Hotchner residence.

xxxxxxxxxx

In her bedroom, Abby slipped off her robe and let her mom help her put her dress over her head, being careful not to mess up her hair or makeup. Once the dress was on, JJ went around to the back and secured it before coming back around to look at her.

"My god, when did you get to be so grown up?" She asked with tears in her eyes.

Abby rolled her eyes, "Please don't start crying, mom," she begged. "Does it look okay?" The dress they had finally decided on was a deep pink, strapless, A-line dress that went almost to the floor. It was taffeta, which allowed for easier movement, and it had a soft, sweetheart neckline. There was silver beading at the neckline which gave it a little flair without being overpowering. All in all, it was a dress that looked like it had been tailor made for Abby.

"It looks wonderful on you!" JJ said, as she straightened out the skirt. "You look beautiful, honey, really." She held out her hand to her daughter as she stepped into her heels and suddenly became taller than her. "Do you have everything?"

Abby nodded, "Yup, I've got my car keys, wallet and cell phone in my purse and Jack's boutonniere is in the fridge. All I need now is my boyfriend and then we can get this show on the road."

"Okay, let's go down and show your dad how nice you look."

"You're sure he won't have a stroke about the dress being strapless?" Abby asked, a little worriedly.

"I'm sure," JJ said firmly. While Dave might not have seen the dress they'd bought, she'd warned him about it being strapless and she'd made it clear to him that he wasn't to say anything that would make their daughter feel self-conscious about it.

"'Kay, let's head downstairs," Abby said as she started for the door. She and JJ continued their conversation as they went down the stairs and, as a result, she almost bumped into her father when she reached the bottom step.

"Dad!" She said, surprised. "Is something wrong?" She asked when she saw him staring at her in awe.

He shook his head, "You look gorgeous, Pumpkin." Like JJ, he marveled over how grown up she looked. He stared at her for another minute and then held out his hand to her. "Mind if I have the first dance?"

Abby smiled and took his hand, "Not at all," she said as he led her into the great room. He picked up the stereo remote and suddenly the room was filled with Sinatra's voice crooning the song _The Way You Look Tonight_. He pulled her into a dance and was surprised to find that she was able to keep up fairly well.

"When did you learn how to waltz?" He asked as he led her around the room.

"Mom taught me when I was thirteen. I didn't want to, but she insisted it was a skill I would appreciate later in life."

"You're pretty good," he said as they settled into a rhythm.

While they danced, various members of the team began arriving and JJ let them in before they rang the doorbell. Once their song ended, Dave and Abby were surprised by the applause from the doorway. "How long have you all been here?" Abby asked, turning slightly red with embarrassment.

"Long enough to see that you cut a decent rug," Derek told her as Penelope ran up to her and gave her a huge hug.

"God Abby, your dress is delicious! Where did you find it?" While she and Garcia talked dress shops, Dave greeted his team members and his mother, who had entered quietly behind them.

Moments later, the doorbell rang and JJ opened it to let Hotch, Emily and Jack into the cabin. No one said a word as the two youngsters got their first looks at each other.

"God, Abby, you look…you look absolutely beautiful," he said almost in a whisper.

"Thanks Jack, you look pretty amazing yourself. Did Uncle Aaron tie this?" She asked, fingering the bowtie. She knew from years of friendship that Jack couldn't tie a tie to save his life, which was kind of funny since it seemed like his dad had come out of the womb wearing a suit and tie.

"Of course," he said with a laugh. He pulled out her corsage and began to slide it onto her wrist when he was startled by three different sets of flashes. Looking over at the adults, he saw Garcia, Emily and JJ all holding cameras. He finished the task, nearly blinded at the end, and then Abby pinned his boutonniere onto him, experiencing the same photographic results as he had. After that, the three women staged pictures of them together, and then with their parents, and then with Marie, and then with various members of the team. Thankfully they had planned for it, so they were just wrapping up when the limo arrived.

All of the adults walked them to the door. "Be careful, but have fun," Dave said as he kissed his daughter's cheek.

"I will, dad," she promised.

The team watched as the limo drove down the driveway, all of them feeling a bit older as they watched 'the kids' in their family leave to attend their senior prom.


	111. Chapter 112

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 112

**~Thanks to MaryEllen1960 for the idea for part of this chapter!**

* * *

"Have you seen Abby?" Jack asked Becca as he approached their table holding two cups of punch. The prom was in full swing and he and Abby had taken a break from dancing in order to get their pictures taken in front of the cheesy backdrop. After they'd stood for their portrait, Abby had insisted upon freshening up in the ladies room, but it had been fifteen minutes since she'd left and Jack was starting to get worried.

Becca shook her perfectly coifed head, "No, but I've been busy with my man over here." Becca's boyfriend Peter was not a dancer and, as a result, they'd spent most of the night at their table. While Peter may not have been a great dancer, he made up for it by being a great kisser and the two teens had spent most of their time sucking face.

"God, why don't you two just get a room already?" Jack asked with a smile. While he wasn't as close to Becca as Abby was, he still liked her and considered her to be a good friend and, therefore, her boyfriend was also on his list of friends.

"Believe me, if this shindig was being held at a hotel instead of at the banquet hall of the DAR museum, I would have!" Jack knew from Abby that the other couple was much farther along in their physical relationship than they were so he didn't bat an eye at her comment.

"Seriously, you haven't seen her?"

Becca shook her head again, "No, but we're at the Daughters of the American Revolution museum; how much trouble can she really get into here?"

"True," Jack said thoughtfully, "But I'm going to go look for her. Watch our stuff?" Becca nodded and Jack went off in search of his girlfriend.

While Jack and Becca had been talking, Abby had been finishing in the bathroom. Finally having gotten her hair to look perfect again, she stepped out of the bathroom and made her way down the long and deserted hallway that led to the banquet room. As she walked, she thought about the night so far.

After the hundreds of pictures they'd posed for at the cabin, Jack and Abby gone in the limo to pick up Becca and Peter. After another torturous round of pictures, they had finally left for the restaurant with everyone in good spirits. The restaurant was nice and upscale and it had been located in the middle of downtown DC, but Abby was too excited and nervous to eat much, as was Becca, so the guys had finished most of the girls' meals along with their own. Once dinner was done, they'd hopped in the limo and had arrived at the prom fashionably late. Even though the dance itself was kind of lame, she'd been having a great time and she was looking forward to the post-prom party back at the cabin. Abby was pulled from her reverie as a figure stepped out of the shadows and blocked her way.

"Well, well, if it isn't Abigail Rossi; the only girl to ever stand up to me," Adam Sanford said a bit threateningly. "What's the matter; did your boyfriend finally ditch you? Or did you go off in search of a real man? If so, you found him," he said, moving closer to her.

"Back off, asshole," Abby said, annoyed. "I don't have time for your bullshit right now."

"Oh, I think you do," he said as he leered at her. "I didn't expect a strapless dress from you, but I have to admit, the view is great." He reached out his hand, as if to touch her, and her instincts took over. Grabbing his hand, she took advantage of his forward momentum and propelled him face first into the wall. Still holding his hand, she twisted it up behind him and pinned him there.

"_Touch _me and you'll regret it until your dying day," she hissed in his ear before letting him go. As she released him, she took a step backwards in case he decided to lash out physically. To her surprise, he turned away from the wall and just stared at her for a minute before wiping his nose.

"You gave me a bloody nose," he said, looking at his hand in surprise. "You'll pay for that, bitch!" He began to advance on her again and she was mentally reviewing all of the self-defense techniques her mother, uncle and father had taught her over the years, when Adam was stopped by a new voice.

"Is everything all right here?" Jack inquired from position directly behind the teenage scumbag. To anyone else, Jack's voice sounded calm and controlled, but Abby knew his anger was right at the surface. She knew this because it was the same way his dad sounded when he was really pissed off about something.

"Its fine," she said, not wanting to start anything at the prom. Adam, however, had a different idea.

"Your cocktease of a girlfriend just gave me a fucking bloody nose!" He said menacingly.

"What did you just call her?" Jack asked lethally. Adam, seeing the deadly expression on his face, had the good sense to keep his mouth shut. "Did he touch you?" Jack asked, turning towards Abby.

She shook her head, "He tried, but he didn't get that far."

"Believe me, if I'd wanted to, I would have touched you everywhere and you would have loved it," the sleazy teenager said and it was too much for Jack. Without thinking, he connected his fist with Adam's face and he went down.

Jack had expected the asshole to jump up and begin swinging, but instead he just stayed on the floor. "You just made a HUGE mistake, Hotchner," he said with a smug grin. "I'm going to get you _and_ your girlfriend expelled for this. You really think Greene will stand for an attack against me at the prom?"

"What attack?" Abby spun around and saw her friend Taylor, along with the three other girls from the bathroom, standing behind her. "I saw you slip and fall…you must have hit your nose and eye when you went down." The other girls, who had all been verbally accosted by Adam at one time or another, nodded in agreement.

He jumped to his feet, "You can't do this!" He started towards the popular girl but was stopped by Jack's firm grip around his upper arm.

"They can and they will, asshole," he hissed. "So why don't you do yourself a favor and get the fuck out of here? And I swear to God, if I hear that you've so much as sneezed in another girl's direction, I'll beat the ever loving shit out of you and to hell with the consequences!" He let Adam go and put his arm protectively around Abby's waist.

Adam glared at the group for a minute and then stalked down the hallway towards the exit. They all breathed a sigh of relief as he left the building.

"It's about fucking time someone put that loser in his place," Taylor said. "Thanks Jack."

"My pleasure," he said as he took a little bow.

Taylor snorted and said, "See you tonight at your party, Abby." With that, she and the three other girls went back to the dance. Abby and Jack followed and hit the dance floor as a slow song began.

"Are you all right?" He asked her and she nodded.

"I'm fine, although…"

"Although what?" He asked, concern written all over his face. If Sanford had actually touched her, he was a dead man.

She sighed and flashed him a mischievous smile as she looped her arms around his neck. "What I'm going to say is about as unfeminist as I can get, but it was _really _hot the way 'Protective Jack' rescued me tonight."

"You liked that, huh?" He asked with a grin, "Because I've gotta say, 'Ass-Kicking Abby' was a huge turn on for me as well."

Abby's smile grew, "I'm kind of regretting letting my parents throw a post-prom party…that and the promise I made that we wouldn't sleep together tonight, because if I hadn't, we would be finding a hotel room."

Jack groaned, "Man! I made the same promise to my dad. Something about the back room at prom not being a romantic place for our first time." His expression turned from joking to serious. "Are you serious though? Are you ready to take our relationship to the next level?"

"I am," Abby replied without hesitation. "And I'm thinking that if we can't do it at this milestone, we should totally do it at the next one."

"What are you thinking of?" He asked, scanning his brain for any upcoming occasions.

"Graduation night," she told him as they swayed to the music. "I think our parents will let us stay out all night."

"I like the way you think," he said, "But are you sure?"

"I am," she said as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Okay, but if you change your mind before then, let me know...I don't want you to think that what you decided now is-" Abby interrupted him.

"Jack, quit sounding like an over protective dad and kiss me already," she ordered and he gladly followed her command.

"I love you, Abs," he said softly as they pulled apart.

"I love you too, Jack, more than I ever thought was possible," she said dreamily.

* * *

_*Next up: Post-prom at the cabin_


	112. Chapter 113

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 113

* * *

The rest of the dance went by quickly and without further incident and before they knew it, the four teens were driving back to the cabin in Abby's car. Since they didn't want to keep the limo for the entire night, Abby and Dave had driven to the DAR museum the night before and left Abby's car there so the kids would have a way to get home.

As they pulled up to the cabin, Abby was surprised to see that some of her guests had arrived already. While her parents had told her not to rush home, they'd left a little early so they could arrive before everyone else, but it looked like they hadn't left early enough. She parked her car in her normal place in front of the cabin and then stepped out with her friends following behind her. As they made their way up to the front porch, they saw Derek standing near the door, ready to greet the guests.

"Hey Derek," Abby said with a smile. "You pulled greeter duty?"

He nodded, "It was either me or Reid and the thought of talking to that many people made the Boy Wonder even paler than usual." He smiled as both Jack and Abby snorted. "How was the prom?"

"It was good," Abby said. "We're going to go inside and change before the bulk of the guests arrive."

The kids headed inside and looked around for both Abby's parents and Hotch, but no one was to be found in the great room, so they dashed up the stairs. Jack and Peter went into one of the guest rooms to change, while Abby and Becca took over her room. They were in there for less than a minute before there was frantic knocking at the door.

"Who is it?" Abby asked.

"It's me, Sweets," Penelope said excitedly, "And I'm _dying _to get the 411 on how prom was!"

"Come on in," she called out and a very exuberant Penelope burst through the door with Emily and her mother following her in.

"So, how was it?" Garcia asked.

"It was fun," Abby told her as she removed her earrings.

"I'm going to go change in the bathroom, Abby," Becca said as she grabbed her bag. She went into the bathroom but left the door open so she could take part in the conversation and still have a bit of privacy. Abby, who had known the three women for most of her life, had no qualms about changing in front of them.

"Can someone unzip me, please?" She asked and her mother undid the back of her dress and helped her step out of it. As they were getting the garment off of her, Garcia shook her head and pouted.

"Uh-uh," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "You have to do better than 'it was fun' when telling me about your prom; I want details!"

"What can I tell you, Pen?" Abby asked as she grabbed the outfit she was going to wear from her closet. "It was a fancy dance."

"Abby, I never went to my prom, so I have to live vicariously through you. Now, I want details and I want them _now_! Start from when you left here and don't leave anything out."

"Okay," the teen said as she slipped into the pants and top she was going to wear to the party. "From here, we went to Becca's house where we were again blinded by the flashes from the many pictures her parents took. After that, we headed into the city for dinner."

"Where did you guys go?" JJ asked. Jack and Peter had wanted to surprise their dates, so they hadn't told them where they were going for dinner.

"The guys took us to 1789," Abby told her and was rewarded with gasps from both her mother and Penelope. Emily, who was practically living with the Hotchner men, had known about Jack's restaurant choice ahead of time.

"1789? Did Jack and Peter rob a bank?" Garcia wondered. "I asked Derek to take me there once and he just snorted and told me to start buying lottery tickets." 1789 was an upscale restaurant in the heart of DC and while the food was excellent, it came with a hefty price tag.

"I know! The food was great, but I felt bad because it was so expensive. I know Jack is saving up for his year off and he shouldn't have spent so much on dinner," Abby said as began removing the hidden bobby pins from the elaborate hairdo her mother had helped her with.

Emily shook her head, "You shouldn't feel bad, Abby; Jack really wanted to take you there, as did Peter. Prom isn't the time to worry about expensive meals and the cost of the limo. Besides, it ran Jack around $100 to rent his tux while your dress cost at least double that, so it all evened out in the end."

Abby didn't look convinced, so JJ changed the subject. "How was the DAR museum?"

"Beautiful," she replied. "It was really elegant and fancy and we had a lot fun. The dance itself was kind of lame though; it felt like every other dance I've ever gone to."

"Yeah, except you and your boyfriend never beat the crap out of anyone at any other dance," Becca piped up from the bathroom.

"What?" The three women asked in unison.

Abby sighed and shook her head, "Thanks Bex, it would have been stupid to wait for the right time to tell them that."

"Sorry Abby," Becca called back to her. "I wasn't thinking."

"Whatever. Are you decent? Can I come in and re-do my makeup?"

"Sure," Becca said. Abby made her way to the bathroom and the three women followed. Emily and Penelope sat on the edge of the bathtub, while JJ stood in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest.

"What happened?" She asked as she watched her daughter remove the makeup she'd worn to the dance; it was heavier than she normally wore and she didn't want it on her skin for the rest of the night.

"Adam Sanford got a little to grabby, that's all," Abby told her.

"Grabby?" JJ repeated. "Did he touch you?"

"He was going to, but I threw him into the wall before he could."

"It was great, JJ," Becca said enthusiastically. "From what I heard, she broke his nose and then Jack broke his jaw."

"That's _not_ what happened," Abby said, rolling her eyes. She got a glimpse of her mother's expression in the mirror and clarified. "That's not _exactly _what happened."

"What exactly _did_ happen?" JJ asked again.

Abby could tell that her mother's patience was running out. "I came out of the bathroom and was alone in the hallway when Adam approached me. He made a couple of comments about my dress and then reached out to touch me and that's when all of the self-defense training that you and Uncle Aaron put me through kicked in. I grabbed his arm, threw him into the wall and kept him there until he calmed down."

"How did Jack enter the fray?" JJ asked.

Abby sighed again as she re-applied her eyeliner, "Adam might have called me a few names after I let him go and Jack overheard them and punched him in the face, but it's all going to be okay; we took care of everything."

"You didn't kill him, did you?" JJ asked, only half joking.

"No, we didn't kill him and there are just a bunch of people willing to swear that he slipped and fell so we shouldn't have any problem with Principal Greene. Seriously mom, can we leave dad out of this?"

"Abby…"

"Come on mom," she practically begged. "You know dad, you know how he'll react! He'll probably want to storm over to the school's post-prom party just to kick Adam's ass and I _don't _want that! At the very least, he'll make a big to do about it at school and the remainder of my year will turn to crap."

"But what if he tries something else with you?" JJ asked. "What if he hurts you?"

Abby shook her head, "He's not going to, especially now that he realizes that both Jack and I will kick his ass if he tries anything. Seriously though, I have to deal with this on my own. What's going to happen if some guy does the same thing to me when I'm in college? Are you and dad going to fly across the country to rescue me?"

"You have a point," her mother said reluctantly and then took a deep breath. "I know its going to come back to bite me in the ass someday, but I'll keep this to myself."

"Thank you," Abby said gratefully.

JJ just shook her head and then addressed her friends, "C'mon, we'd better get back downstairs to help chaperone." The three women stood up and exited the bathroom. As soon as they stepped into the teenage bedroom, they came face to face with a _very _unhappy looking David Rossi.

Seeing the look on her husband's face, JJ grabbed his arm and propelled him out of the room before he could say anything. Once they were all in the hallway, with Abby's door closed behind them, JJ closed her eyes and waited for the fireworks to start.

"He fucked with her again?" Dave yelled in a whisper, not wanting the rest of the house to know what was happening.

Garcia looped her arm through her friend's. "Come on Em; let's go someplace that isn't here." With that, the two women took off down the stairs, leaving JJ to face her angry husband on her own.

"He fucked with her again and you weren't going to tell me about it?" He hissed.

"No, because I knew you would fly off the handle about it," JJ retorted. "Abby wants to handle this on her own and we're going to let her. Actually, it sounds like the situation has already been handled; all you'll do tonight is make it worse."

"Goddammit Jen! I _have _to do something! That's my daughter he's screwing with!"

"And your daughter wants to handle it on her own! What are you going to do? Go over to the school's post-prom party and have words with the kid? Or are you going to wait until Monday and go to the school and make a scene? Either way, it's the _last _thing Abby wants! After everything that has happened this year, do you really want to ruin her last few weeks of school? Do you want to put even more of a damper on her excitement and happiness over her graduation?"

"No, but I have to retaliate! That's my little girl, for Christ sake!"

"I know," JJ soothed, "And I have a deal for you."

"What kind of deal?" Dave asked suspiciously.

"Let this go, respect Abby's wishes on this topic," she started.

"And what do I get in return?"

JJ smiled, "The day after Abby's graduation, I'll let you and Garcia go nuts ruining this kid's life electronically. You both can do whatever you want to him and I won't stop you."

Dave thought for a minute, "Even if we fuck with his school records so any college acceptances are rescinded?" JJ nodded. "What if we put him on the national registered sex offender database?"

"I'll watch with a smile," JJ said and she meant it too. No matter what Abby wanted, that little punk had fucked with her daughter and she wanted his blood almost as much as her husband.

"All right," Dave agreed. "While I really want to beat the ever loving shit out of the kid, I'll bow to my daughter's wishes."

JJ sighed in relief, "Thank you," she said and gave him a kiss on the lips before they made their way down the stairs.

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The party, which had started at midnight, was still going strong by three-thirty in the morning. The team, largely under Garcia's direction, had split the cabin into different sections. The study housed a television and numerous throw pillows and it was for the kids who wanted to watch a movie and maybe grab a nap.

The great room, which held the large screen plasma TV, had been turned into a game room. Spencer had brought his Nintendo Wii and Morgan had brought his X-box and between those and the various board games scattered around the room, the spot was a happening place. It also helped that Marie set out most of the food on a large table in the great room, so people were constantly entering the room for various snack foods. Once three am had hit, Marie had excused herself from the kitchen and she'd gone outside to relax

The other main place during the party was the back yard deck. Because there were no neighbors around for miles, they were able to play music out there and many kids were dancing on the wooden platform. The deck was large enough so there was also room for tables and chairs and many people were out there socializing. Garcia had strung paper Chinese lanterns all around and it gave the environment a relaxing feel.

Abby, who had just piled a plate high with her grandmother's cooking, stepped out onto the deck and spotted the woman sitting at one of the tables. She wore a slight smile on her face and she seemed content to watch the younger people congregate.

"Hi Nonna," Abby greeted as she plopped down into a chair next to her.

"Hello, Little One," she greeted. "Are you having fun?"

"Tons," she replied. "Although I was glad to escape Reid's chess lesson in the great room," she said as she took a bite of pizza. "This is wonderful, thank you so much for helping with this tonight."

"It was my pleasure, Abby," Marie said lovingly. "You've worked so hard and you deserve a night of fun."

They both sat in silence for a little while as they watched the dancing and socializing. After about ten minutes, Abby saw her friends Taylor, Jordan and Madison making their way towards them.

"Good God, Abby, is it always like this?" Taylor asked as they all sat down at the table.

"What do you mean?" She asked and then remembered her manners. "Have you guys all met my grandmother?"

The popular girl smiled, "We have. In fact, your grandmother gave me a mini cooking lesson in the kitchen. I didn't know it was so easy to make pizza dough. You'll send me the recipe, right Mrs. Rossi?"

"I will, and I told you girls, its Nonna not Mrs. Rossi."

The three teens smiled and then Jordan turned back to Abby, "Seriously, do your parent's co-workers come over often?"

Abby thought for a second and then nodded, "Yeah, they're all pretty much family; if they don't come here, then we all meet up somewhere." She scooted her chair over as Becca joined them.

"So how do you get anything done at these get togethers? How do you put a coherent sentence together?" Madison asked.

"What do you mean?" Abby asked, feeling confused. She knew it was late, or early depending on how one looked at it, but she didn't think she was that tired. Thankfully, Taylor clarified it for her.

"God Abby, you're surrounded by hot guys!" She exclaimed, as though it should be obvious to everyone.

"What? No…they're just…family," she said, refusing to let her mind go there.

"Are you blind?" Taylor responded. "Just look around!" The A-list girl swung her chair around to look through the sliding door into the great room and everyone followed her eyes. "Look at Derek," she said. All of the adults had told the guests to call them by their first names since 'agent' sounded too formal for a party. "My God, if that man was any hotter he'd be on fire!" They watched as Morgan battled a kid on the Wii. "Even through his t-shirt, you can tell he has abs that just don't quit, and his voice? God, could it be any sexier?"

"And what about Spencer?" Madison piped up. "Just look at that skin! It's so smooth and clear."

"Yeah, and the few times he smiled tonight, it lit up his face," Jordan said dreamily. "And could the man use his hands any more? I swear, I swooned just _watching _him talk with his hands." They all watched him take a drink and Jordan mumbled, "I've never wanted to be a cup until now."

Abby, who was feeling a bit nauseous at the conversation, said, "Eeeeuuuuwwww, those guys are like my brothers! What is _wrong_ with you people?"

"Come on, Abby, you have to admit that your parents work with some hotties," Becca said with a grin.

"Even Jack's dad isn't too hard on the eyes," Taylor said, looking at the other side of the deck where Hotch was engaged in a conversation with JJ and Dave.

"I know, right?" Becca agreed. "He has those piercing eyes and he's so intense!"

"And his face is so chiseled," Madison agreed.

"That is just so…wrong!" Abby said in a high pitched voice, horrified that they were objectifying her pseudo-uncle like that. "Come on Nonna, back me up here!" She begged.

Marie, who had found the entire teenage conversation amusing, tried to keep a smile off of her face. "Really girls, you sound no better than a bunch of men right now," she admonished with a twinkle in her eye. "Although…if I was a few years younger and Derek Morgan were a few years older, I'd-" Her statement was cut off by a loud shriek from her granddaughter.

"Nonna! Oh my GOD!" Abby was scandalized as everyone at the table laughed.

"What?" Marie asked innocently, but the smile had crept back onto her face. "I may be old, but I'm not dead and I'm certainly not blind."

Abby made a slight retching noise, "I think I'm going to be sick."

"God Abby, lighten up," Taylor said through a large grin. "Face it, your FBI family is HOT; even your dad, for an older guy, is pretty-"

"Okay, I'm done here," Abby said, standing up. "I'm going to leave before I hear something that will scar me for life. As it is, I'm going to go bang my head against the wall until this conversation is wiped clean from my memories." She got up and moved towards the house and she heard the laughter follow her the entire way.

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The house was empty by seven thirty; the teens had all left by seven and the team had stayed for a light breakfast and then had left to get some sleep at their respective residences. Marie was asleep in one of the guest rooms, having retired for the night at around four-thirty.

As JJ, Dave and Abby shut the door behind Jack, Hotch and Emily, they turned and faced the great room. With a large sigh, JJ moaned, "There is so much to clean up."

"I'll do it, mom," Abby said. "You guys did so much for this party and I'll clean it all up before I go to bed."

"The hell you will," Dave said as he led his girls towards the stairs. "I hired a cleaning crew to come over and clear all of this away. With any luck, they'll let themselves in while we're asleep and by the time we wake up, we'll have our nice, clean cabin back."

"I think I fell in love with you even more," JJ said tiredly as they made their way up the steps. "But you gave them a key? Is that safe?"

"I had Garcia vet them to within an inch of their lives. If she says they're trustworthy, I believe her," Dave said through a yawn.

"Thanks again for everything," Abby said as they got to her room and the master bedroom. "It was great; much better than the school's post-prom party would have been."

"I'm glad you had fun, Pumpkin," Dave said as he gave her forehead a good-night kiss. "We're going to have to work hard to top this shindig. Maybe your graduation party…" he trailed off as the wheels turned in his head, but they were stopped by his daughter's voice.

"No way, I want a low key party for graduation," she said.

"Honey, my family and our FBI family will all be involved with your graduation party. There is no _way _it will be low key."

"A girl can hope," she said with a sigh as she stepped into her bedroom. A second later, JJ and Dave stepped into theirs.

"It really was a great party," JJ said as she began to undress.

"It was and I don't mind telling you, I wouldn't mind re-enacting prom night with you," Dave said with a glimmer in his eye.

"I don't know, Dave, my prom night consisted of a night of charades and other stupid games in our school's gymnasium," JJ told him.

"Well, we'll have to fix that, won't we Jen?" He asked rhetorically. They made their own prom memories a few minutes later.


	113. Chapter 114

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 114

**~A small story arc before we get to Abby and Jack's graduation.**

* * *

Time went by fast for the Rossi family. Over the next two weeks, it seemed like the three of them barely saw each other because they were all pulled in different directions. Abby was working hard on finishing various school projects and she was also studying for her final exams. The week after prom had been designated as 'senior week' and the various trips and activities had served as a good stress reliever for her, but soon afterwards she put her nose back to the grindstone and she hadn't let up. Both JJ and Dave hardly saw her because she was either working with friends on group projects or she was studying at the Georgetown University library, which was open twenty-four hours per day. While the library was open all night, her parents had a firm ten o'clock curfew for her on weekdays, so they got to see a little bit of her while she wolfed down a late dinner before she holed up in her room to finish studying.

While Abby was busy with schoolwork, Dave found himself somewhat busy at the BAU. While he was officially a consultant until Abby went off to college, the department had been bombarded with cases and Hotch nearly begged him to come in and help. As a result, he found himself spending the majority of the two weeks in Quantico. While he hadn't wanted to be separated from his wife for that long, he knew the pickle Hotch was in, having both his top profiler and his media liaison sidelined, so he helped his friend out.

JJ, who found herself with nothing to do during the day for the first time since she was in grade school, felt like her family was tearing apart. She expected it to happen when Abby went off to school at Berkeley, but she thought she would have months before it happened but she realized it was occurring sooner than she would like. She felt disconnected from her husband and daughter and she didn't like it. Overhearing her daughter talking to one of her friends one night, she knew what she was going to do to reunite her family again.

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Cracking one eye open, Abby glanced at her bedside clock before snuggling back down into her blankets. After a few seconds, her brain awoke and she sat up in bed and grabbed the clock, hoping she'd misread it the first time. Nope, it read eight forty-five in the morning, which meant she had overslept and was currently missing her first class of the day.

"Shit!" She exclaimed as she jumped out of bed and began haphazardly getting dressed. She pulled on various pieces of her uniform with one hand while she brushed her hair with the other. With any luck she could be out of the cabin in ten minutes and still make it to the tail end of her second period class. Just as she was thinking that, there was a soft knock on the door.

"Abby?" Her mother asked. "Can I come in?"

"Sure mom," She called back. As soon as her mother entered the room she gave her a strange look but Abby wasn't surprised by it considering how she must look. She had her uniform skirt on along with her pajama top, one sock and her hair was half brushed. All in all, she knew she looked like a mess. Before JJ could say anything, Abby began speaking rapidly. "I'm sorry mom, I overslept! I don't know what happened, I set my alarm but it didn't go off! If I hurry I'll be able to make it to my history class, but I'll probably need a note. Oh, and can you grab me a new clock radio sometime today? This one must have bit the dust." While she was talking, she had managed to get her other sock on and now she was searching her closet for a clean uniform top.

"Your alarm isn't broken, Abby, I turned it off this morning," JJ explained.

Abby pulled her head out of the closet and stared at her mother. "You turned it off? Why?" She frantically racked her brain to remember if she had any appointments that morning that would have caused her to miss school. Nope, none.

"I heard you talking to Becca last night and you told her that all you needed to do today was turn in your essay to Mr. Harding, otherwise today was a 'blow off' day for you. I figured you deserved a day off since you've been working so hard, so I called the school and told them you were sick. I thought we could have a mother/daughter day like we used to…well, since your father is home today, he'll want to come with, so it will be more like a family day, but won't it be fun?" JJ was nearly hopping with excitement, but it was dampened when she saw her daughter's reaction.

"Are you kidding me?" Abby asked loudly, her anger and frustration evident. "Fun? No, it's not going to be fun! I _have _to go to school to turn in my paper and then I have to study for my finals since they start next week! I can't believe you did this without even asking me!"

"I thought it would be a nice surprise," JJ said, trying to defend her actions. "We used to do this every year, remember?"

"Yeah, back when I was _eight_," Abby responded. "I'm eighteen now, mom, I'm not a little kid and you can't make these decisions for me! God! I can't just take the day off because you want a playmate!" As she yelled, she swapped her pajama top for a uniform shirt.

"What are you doing?" JJ asked.

"I'm _changing_ into my uniform so I can make it to most of my classes today," Abby snarked back at her and was floored to see her mother shake her head.

"You can't, I already told them you were sick; they think you're contagious."

"Well that's just perfect!" Abby exploded. "That means I won't be able to turn my paper in to Mr. Harding in person! I wanted to explain a couple of things to him, but I guess THAT's not going to happen! I also need some books from my locker so I can study this weekend, but I guess _that's _not going to happen either! Thanks mom, thanks for turning my entire day and weekend to crap!" Abby grabbed her laptop and snapped it open with an angry flourish. She sat down at her desk with it and waited for it to wake up, not looking at her mother the entire time.

"I'm sorry Abby, I thought this would be good for you but I guess I was wrong," JJ said quietly, the hurt evident in her voice. "When you're done sending your paper, come downstairs and we'll eat breakfast."

"I'm not hungry," Abby snapped and JJ could hear the unconcealed anger dripping from every word.

"Fine," JJ said as she backed out of the room and shut the door behind her.

xxxxxxxxxx

An hour later, there was another knock at Abby's door. "Come in," She called out as she brushed her wet hair. After sending her paper, along with a long explanation to her teacher, Abby had also sent out emails to Jack, Becca and various members of her study group letting them know she wouldn't be able to make it after school that afternoon. Once she was done, she had jumped in the shower before deciding what to do next. She only had about of the books she needed to study that weekend, and she could picture the rest of them sitting in her locker.

Her dad entered the room and he didn't look too happy with her. "Did you email your stuff to your teachers?"

Abby nodded, "Yeah, I only had a few things to send."

"Good," he said, "Now you can go downstairs and apologize to your mother."

"ME?" Abby asked indignantly as she sat down on her bed, "Why should I apologize? _She's _the one who called my school and told them I was sick, _she's _the one who made me turn in my _important _paper via email, instead of in person, and _she's _the reason I'm not going to be able to study as well this weekend. I think _she's _the one who owes _me_ an apology!"

"She might have done all of that, but she honestly thought she was doing what's best for you. _You're _the one who was rude to her, _you're _the one who gave her back talk and _you're _the one who hurt her feelings. And _you're _the one who's going to apologize. Capisce?" Dave was seeing red at his daughter's behavior. Sure, JJ shouldn't have just assumed that Abby could miss school, but Abby needed to learn that she couldn't hurt her mother's feelings like that, whether she was eighteen or sixty-eight. He was only half-surprised when she kept arguing the point.

"Unbelievable," she said, indignant at the idea of apologizing to her mother for something that wasn't even _close _to being her fault! Hell would freeze over first! "She totally screws with my day…with my weekend and you think _I'm_ the one who should apologize? Forget it!"

"You_ are _going to apologize, young lady. Your mother is sitting down at the breakfast bar barely keeping her tears at bay, so I don't care if you have to swallow your pride, but you _will _make things right with her and you_ will_ go along with her 'family day' suggestion and you will do it with a smile."

"This is bullshit!" Abby argued. "I didn't do anything wrong and I'm the one getting yelled at!"

"Watch your language," Dave said loudly as he towered over her. "You're coming up to the line, Abigail."

"Great," Abby said, softer this time but her voice was dripping with attitude. "Fine, let's do the stupid family day. Maybe you and mom can take me to a playground, but first make sure you hold my hands as I cross the street, or better yet you can just put me on one of those kiddie leashes, you know, since you both treat me like a child anyway."

"Enough!" Dave yelled as he slammed his hand down on her desk. He saw her eyes go wide and he took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. "This isn't about us treating you like a child, it's about us seeing you working yourself to death, it's about us seeing you strive for perfection with everything you do. Could your mother have done this better? Yes, I suppose she could have asked you ahead of time, but she knew you would say no. When she called your school this morning, she was looking out for your well-being and if you think that's going to magically stop now that you're an official adult, then you don't know either one of us at all."

"What about the books I need for the weekend?" Abby asked sharply. "If I don't get them, it's going to seriously interfere with my study plans."

"Can you honestly tell me you're not prepared to take your finals? I know you, Pumpkin, and I'll bet that if you sat for your exams right now, you would ace every one of them. Even if you don't get A's on all of them, so what? It's your senior year and you've already been accepted at a great college…numerous colleges in fact, so you, my dear, need to relax and you'll do it by participating in your mother's family day and you'll do it pleasantly," he told her firmly.

Hearing her father's order at the end got Abby's hackles up again and she practically spat, "Fine, although I don't see why we have to do a stupid family day. If you want me to relax then you both should just leave me alone!"

Dave counted to ten in order to get his frustration under control and then sat down next to her on the edge of her bed. "Your mother is worried, Abby. For the last eighteen years you've always been a constant in her life. Her father treated her like crap, her mother died, her boyfriends came and went, I left her, we were shot and nearly killed and yet, through all of that, you've always been in her daily life and she knows that in a few short months you'll be thousands of miles away at school. This is her way of reacting to that. She's going to miss you, Pumpkin, much more than you could ever imagine and she needs this right now; she needs to have time with her family."

Abby sighed, "Dammit, I was all set to be mad both of you for the rest of the weekend and now you've taken the wind out of my sails." Dave just smiled at her. "Fine, I'll go apologize to her and actually mean it."

"Good, and after that, I'll make you some pancakes," he promised as he got off of her bed and walked towards the door.

"Did you have to take a class to learn how to pull guilt trips, or did the skill just come naturally to you?" Abby called out after him.

Dave smiled and turned around, "Neither, it comes from having an Italian-Catholic mother."

xxxxxxxxxx

Ten minutes later, Abby made her way into the kitchen where her mother was sitting at the kitchen table. Abby pulled out the chair next to her and sat down.

"Did you email your teachers?" Her mother asked stiffly.

"I did," Abby said.

"Good."

As she stared at her mother, Abby began to feel even guiltier for her initial reaction towards her. Sure, her mother should have asked her about taking the day off, but she'd reacted pretty strongly. "I'm sorry about earlier, mom."

"Whatever Abby, it's fine," JJ said, not looking at her.

"No, it's not," the teen replied, "I shouldn't have flown off the handle like that."

"I know your father sent you in here to apologize, so you can tell him you did your deed," JJ responded.

"God mom, I'm not in her apologizing because of him," Abby said. JJ gave her a look and Abby amended her statement, "Okay, I'm not her _only _because of him, I'm here because I really am sorry; I was a bitch before and I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"No, you shouldn't have," JJ said, "But I should have asked you about today beforehand. I guess it's just taking me a little while to realize you're not the little girl who once clung to my leg and begged to come to work with me instead of going to kindergarten."

"So…are we okay?" Abby asked, smiling at the memory.

"We are," her mom responded with a smile. "Are you up for a mother/daughter day like we used to have?"

"That depends; does it include a trip to the National Zoo and then a night filled with chick flicks and junk food?"

"It does," JJ responded, "Although your father really wants to join us, so it will have to be more of a family day instead of a mother/daughter day. Is that okay with you?"

Abby nodded, "It is, just as long as he realizes that manicures and _How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days_ will be on the agenda tonight."

JJ smiled as she wondered how her husband would react to that.


	114. Chapter 115

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 115

**~Sorry it took me so long to post this, I've been having a _horrible_ week. Hopefully the next chapter will go up faster.**

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"Can you please tell me again why we're stuck in this godforsaken Metro car instead of in our nice, comfortable SUV?" Dave asked as he sat across from his wife and daughter. While he knew both of them were no strangers to public transportation, he was and he _hated _taking the Metro.

"Have you ever tried parking at the National Zoo?" JJ asked.

"No," he admitted.

"It's horrible," she told him. "There are about fifty spaces for the entire place and the nearest street parking is about a mile away. Trust me, this is _much _easier."

"Yeah, but we could've taken the Metro to the Hoover Building and then had a junior agent drive us to the zoo," he whined.

His wife just looked at him dumfounded, "Because THAT wouldn't have been a waste of government resources. It won't kill you to travel with the common folk every once in a while."

Abby smiled as she listened to her parents snipe at each other good-naturedly. In spite of the rocky start, the day was shaping up to be a fun one. After she and her mother had made up, Dave had made them his legendary banana pancakes before checking his camera over to make sure there was enough memory for all of the pictures he planned on taking. Abby had sighed when she saw that; she knew her dad could be a picture taking fiend and she knew today would be no different from many of their other family outings. In fact, this one could be worse because they hadn't been on one in quite a while and she knew he would make up for lost time.

She was pulled from her thoughts when she heard the announcement for the next stop. "That's us," she said as she stood. "When we get off here, we have to go upstairs and across the platform to catch the next train." As soon as the doors opened she was off like a shot, throwing a backwards glance over her shoulder to make sure her parents were behind her. When she saw they were, she took off for the upper platform.

Dave, who was hurrying to keep up with his daughter, was amazed at the way she knew the Metro stops and transfers. While he would have been studying the map for five minutes to figure out which train to take next, she was plowing ahead, navigating slow-pokes and lost tourists. When the hell had she become so confident? So grown up? He shook his head in wonderment as they reached the top platform and jumped into newly arrived their train.

Ten minutes later, they got off at their stop and started the short trek to the zoo. On the way, the girls listed the things they wanted to do and see there. "Well, we _have _to see the pandas," Abby said as though it was a given.

JJ nodded, "There are some new lion cubs I want to check out," she added. "Plus, the gorilla house is always fun."

"I also want to check out the meerkats," Abby added. "I want to see how they compare to the ones on _Meerkat Manor_." Dave grinned as he heard this; normally his daughter _hated _nature shows, but she'd seen a rerun of the television show a year ago and she'd become hooked. Whenever the discovery channel had a marathon of the old show, she filled the DVR with it.

"Dave, do you have anything in particular you want to see?" JJ asked as they arrived at the entrance to the zoo.

He shook his head, "Nope, I thought we would just wander around looking at things, I didn't know the two of you would plan what we saw."

Abby snorted, "Amateur." She smiled at him so he knew she was joking and then her attention was pulled away. "Ooooh, the souvenir shop!"

Even though they had just arrived at the zoo and they knew they would have to carry anything they bought, JJ and Abby beelined it into the shop. Dave thought about stopping them but decided it was their day and he felt lucky enough to be invited along, so he didn't want to rock the boat. He also knew this was somewhat of a tradition with them and if it started with a stop at the souvenir stand, then so be it.

Twenty minutes later he regretted his decision to let them have free reign at the shop when they came out wearing panda ear headbands. The headbands looked cute enough on them, cute enough for him to shoot a picture with his camera phone and send it to his colleagues at the BAU, but when they pulled out a set of ears for him to wear, he balked.

"No WAY!" He said as he held the headband between two fingers and looked at it like he would a poisonous snake. "There is no way on God's green earth that I am wearing these."

"But Dave," JJ whined, sounding very much like their teenage daughter, "_everyone_ is wearing them!" She swept her arm towards the many people milling around the zoo area.

"But JJ," Dave said back, mimicking her tone, "The only people wearing them are girls. It's a headband, for Christ sake, and I am _not_ wearing a headband! End of discussion." His voice had turned firm at the end and he really meant what he'd said but, unfortunately for him, his daughter pulled out the heavy weaponry in her arsenal.

"Please dad?" She asked in a faux teary voice. "Mom and I did this every time we went to the zoo when I was a kid and it was always the best part; I don't want you to miss out on it." Throughout her spiel she looked at him with large puppy dog eyes and he knew that he was a goner.

"I'll tell you what," he relented in a gentler tone, "I'll wear the ears at the panda exhibit and when we get our picture taken in front of the exhibit, but that's it."

Abby, who'd never really expected her dad to wear the ears at all, knew this was a good deal so she nodded. "Your terms are acceptable," she said as she put the headband back into the bag.

"And you think _I'm _the expert at pulling guilt trips?" He muttered as they made their way further into the zoo.

They roamed around the zoo for the rest of the afternoon, stopping at various animal exhibits and buildings. The girls got their pictures taken with the baby lion cubs, the orangutans, gorillas, anteaters and finally the giant panda where, as promised, Dave wore the panda ear headband. As Abby handed his camera off to a passerby so they could have a picture of the three of them together, he saw another flash pop and he wondered, uneasily, whether a fan had just gotten a picture of him in his getup and would post it on Facebook or Twitter.

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Later that night, after renting numerous chick flicks and making large amounts of junk food, Dave found himself wishing that he hadn't received an invite to his wife and daughter's 'girls night.' First, he felt like his cholesterol levels had tripled due to all of the pizza, French fries, potato chips, candy, ice cream and soda they had consumed. Second, he knew that if he stayed in the great room for much longer, he would have to turn in his 'man card' at the end of the night.

It didn't help that the cabin was pretty much swimming in estrogen. Between his girls beautifying themselves, the chick music playing on their iPods and the sappy, romantic comedies playing on the TV, he felt like he was in the middle of a sorority house. The worst part came when they'd turned their skills on each other…and him. The first inkling that the night would be…interesting for him was when they made their homemade facial mixes in the blender and applied it to each other. Once they were finished with themselves, they had turned to him and declared him to be 'next.' No amount of begging or pleading got him out of having his first facial and while he felt like a pansy, he did have to admit that his skin felt much better afterwards.

After that, they'd become absorbed in the movie that was playing and Dave began to cautiously hope that the beauty portion of the night was behind him. No such luck. An hour after the facial, Abby and JJ decided to give each other manicures and he'd watched them warily, hoping that afterward they would settle back into their movie. Luck was not on his side, because soon after their nails had dried, they had turned their beauty tools on him. He reluctantly let them trim, file and shape his fingernails, but he adamantly refused to let them put clear nail polish on them and no amount of cajoling on their part could get him to change his mind.

Thankfully, they currently seemed to be engrossed in the numerous fashion magazines that littered the coffee table and he breathed a sigh of relief that he couldn't see any beauty implements in their hands. Of course, that didn't mean there weren't any nearby, but maybe he had scored a reprieve from anything else that would push him ever closer to losing even more of his testosterone.

He was pulled from his reverie by his daughter tossing one of the magazines at him. "What do you think?" She asked him from her position next to her mother on the sofa.

He picked up the magazine and saw rows of dresses. "What exactly am I looking at here, Pumpkin?"

"Daaaadddd," she whined. "Mom and I have been talking about dresses for my graduation. Haven't you been listening?"

"Sorry," he said lamely. "Which one do you like?"

"Well, I like all of them," she replied, "But we're specifically thinking of the one on the end."

Privately thinking that all of the dresses looked the same, he pretended to study it for a minute and then looked up at her and smiled. "I think it would look stunning on you, honey."

JJ started to say something as well, but all Abby heard was a buzz as she felt her brain shut down. Stunning…stunning…stunning…she suddenly found herself back in the study with her parents on that horrible night when Suzette and Paul held them at gunpoint. She could feel the tension in the room and she could almost smell the fear coming from her and her parents. In her mind, Suzette was standing in front of her saying, "It's almost a shame I have to kill her; she would have grown up to be a stunning woman…stunning woman…stunning woman…"

"What do you think, Abby?" JJ asked. When she received no answer, she looked up from the magazine and saw her daughter sitting in frozen horror. "Abby? Abby!" She said loudly, trying to snap her daughter out of whatever state it was that she was in.

Dave, who was also staring at their daughter, watching the turmoil play out on her features, didn't know what to do. "Jen, what's happening to her?" He asked and JJ could hear the underlying panic in his voice.

"I don't know, Dave, this has never happened before," she responded back calmly. If there was even a chance their daughter could hear them in her state, then she didn't want to stress the teen out further by sounding frantic, but she was. She took Abby's hand and rubbed the top of it with her thumb while she prayed that whatever was happening to her would quickly pass. If it didn't, if it went on longer than another minute, then she would call 911.

"She's barely breathing, Jen," Dave said as he moved to the other side of Abby and picked up her other hand. "And she's freezing too."

"I know…I'm not sure what's happening to her," she said to him and then directed her next words at her daughter. "Abby, come on honey, wake up, come back to us." She was speaking in a gentle tone, but her voice was louder than normal in an effort to try and break through to her daughter.

Abby, whose brain kept replaying that night, from the time Suzette used the word stunning, until when she was knocked out, gradually became aware of her mother saying her name. After another thirty seconds, she was finally able to snap out of her flashback. As she gradually became aware of her surroundings, she felt the bile rise in the back of her throat and, without warning, she jumped up from the sofa and made a mad dash for the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

"What the fuck was that?" Dave asked again, rhetorically this time. Without another word, both he and his wife got up from the sofa and followed their daughter's path to the bathroom. Just as they were about to knock on the bathroom door, they heard her retching. Dave had seen many awful things in his many years as an FBI profiler, but seeing someone throw up was one of those things he couldn't handle; Abby called him a sympathetic puker. He knew JJ could go in and comfort her, but he also knew that, as her father, he needed to be in there as well, so he shored up his resolve, took a deep breath and opened the door.

As expected, they found their daughter kneeling on the floor with her head in the toilet. JJ squatted down next to her and held her hair back with one hand while she rubbed her back with the other. Dave, not sure of what to do, wet a washcloth, knelt on the other side of her and held it to the back of her neck. They both waited patiently until she stopped heaving.

"Better?" JJ asked as Abby finally pulled her head out of the porcelain bowl.

She nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes. As she sat on the floor with her back against the wall, Dave filled a Dixie cup with water, handed it to her and then sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. He was a little surprised when she shrugged it off. JJ made herself comfy on the floor in front of her and waited for an explanation. When it was obvious that none was forthcoming, she decided to start the discussion.

"What happened, honey?" She asked gently. She knew that with the horror she'd seen in Abby's eyes, combined with her not wanting to be touched, some disturbing memory had been triggered and she wanted to know what it was.

Abby just shook her head, not trusting herself to speak. Dave, who was worried that she would fall back into the near catatonic state she'd been in after Will's attack in New York, said, "You're starting to scare me, Pumpkin. Are you alright?"

Abby knew she had to say something before they just hauled her to the nearest ER. "I'm...I'm fine dad," she said shakily.

"Bullshit," he responded. "Something happened to you in the great room. What was it?" Both he and JJ had seen this reaction before; it usually happened to victims and witnesses, but they wanted to be sure of what it was.

"I…I don't know what happened," she said, not meeting their eyes. "Dad said the word stun…stunning and all of the sudden I was back in the study reliving that ni…night."

"Jesus, Abby, I'm sorry," Dave said. The absolute LAST thing he ever wanted to do was send his daughter into a flashback, but that's exactly what he had done. He once again tried putting his arm around her, but she pulled away again.

"It's not your fault," she said, trying to get the image of that night out of her head.

"But-" he started, but Abby just held up her hand.

"Seriously dad, I'm okay," she told him. She took a deep breath, as if to clear her mind, stood up and gave a small smile. "C'mon, I want to see how the movie ends." Both of her parents could see that the smile didn't reach her eyes, but they decided to play along.

"Okay, Abby, I'm just going to get you some more juice," JJ said and the teen nodded as she made her way into the great room. Dave followed his wife into the kitchen and they both just stood there silently for a minute.

"I really hoped she wouldn't have any flashbacks," Dave said quietly. "The nightmares are bad enough for her."

"I know, but I guess that was a pipe dream. What do we do now?" She asked her husband who held advanced psychology degrees.

He ran a hand down his face. "I'm going to call Dr. Kendall first thing tomorrow morning to see if she'll see Abby on an emergency basis. I know it's a Saturday, but I'll pay whatever she wants for a session."

JJ nodded, "I think we should still plan on sleeping down here for the night; Abby will probably have nightmares and we can deal with them better if we're all in the same room." She poured the glass of juice and then started for the great room, but was stopped by her husband.

"She'll be okay," he promised as he pulled his wife into a gentle hug.


	115. Chapter 116

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 116

**~Once again, I apologize for the delay between chapters. I love my family, but spending two weeks with them drove me more than a little insane. That being said, this chapter isn't the greatest, but it is what it is.**

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JJ's words turned out to be prophetic ones; Abby's nightmares returned with a vengeance and, as a result, the three of them did not get much sleep that night. After her last nightmare, JJ lay next to her daughter on the sofa and stroked her hair until she finally fell back to sleep, while Dave jumped in the shower and got ready for the day. It was five-thirty in the morning, which was early for a Saturday, but he knew he wouldn't fall back to sleep.

Once he was done in the shower, he called Dr. Kendall, not caring how early it was. It took some prodding to get her to wake up fully over the phone, but once she did, he explained what had happened with Abby the night before and she didn't hesitate to arrange a session for that morning. Once that was done, Dave made his way down the stairs, took his seat in the great room and watched his girls as they slept. They were lying side by side on the other sofa and JJ had her arm wrapped protectively around Abby's waist, as if to protect her even in her sleep. Whatever JJ was doing seemed to be working as Abby was sleeping more peacefully than she had all night. They both looked so serene that Dave almost hated waking them, but he had to because they had to be at Dr. Kendall's office by eight and they needed something to eat before then.

With a sigh, he went over and lightly shook both of them. JJ buried her face into the couch pillow, while Abby jerked awake.

"Sorry, Pumpkin," he said soothingly when he saw the fear and panic in her eyes. "It's time to wake up."

"But its Saturday," she said confused.

"I know, but you have an appointment with Dr. Kendall at eight and you need a shower and breakfast beforehand."

JJ, who had moved the pillow from her face, was awake and sitting up and she was glad her husband had been able to finagle an appointment with the popular psychiatrist. Like him, she didn't care what the session cost, as long as it helped their daughter.

Abby, who was still confused, shook her head. "No I don't, I meet with her on Mondays and Thursdays."

"After what happened last night, I thought you could use a session with her today as well," he said with a gentle smile. He added the smile on the end so she would think she had some choice in the matter, but the truth was she didn't; he would drag her there kicking and screaming if he had to.

"Oh," Abby said as she looked at the floor, "Okay." It was then that both of her parents knew that whatever had happened to her the night before was worse than she was letting on. The simple fact that she wasn't yelling at Dave for interfering in her therapy or for trying to run her life, as she saw it, made them worry about her even more.

"Why don't you both grab hot showers while I make breakfast?" He suggested. Both of them nodded their heads and ascended the stairs to try and let the hot water melt all of their worries away.

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Two hours later, Dave and JJ were sitting in the waiting room of Sarah Kendall while their daughter had her early morning session with her. Both of them hoped she would be able to help her with the flashback she had experienced the previous night and that it wouldn't be too much of a setback for her. They were surprised when the door to the inner office opened only twenty-five minutes into the session.

"Dave, JJ?" Dr. Kendall asked. "Abby was wondering if the two of you would like to join her in her session today." Neither of them had to be asked twice; they were both surprised...shocked actually, that their daughter would allow them to take part in the session since she was usually so tight-lipped about them.

They both stood up and entered the inner office and they found Abby sitting in the middle of a sofa, hugging a large pillow. Her eyes were red-rimmed but she seemed more centered than she had been earlier in the morning. They sat down on either side of her and, without thinking, JJ took her hand and was relieved when she didn't pull away like she had the night before.

"How are you doing, honey?" She asked gently.

"Better," Abby responded. "Sarah and I talked and I thought since you were both there for my meltdown last night, you should be here for this part. I probably scared the hell out of both of you, right?"

"You did, but we understand and we know you didn't do it on purpose," Dave said. "But I'm still not sure what triggered it. I know you said it was because I used the word stun…well, because I used a certain word, but how does it link back to that night?"

"It's okay, dad, you can say the word stunning without me freaking out," she said with a small smile. Dave returned it as he picked up her other hand and waited for her response. "Um, that night, Suzette towered over me at one point and told you it was a shame she had to kill me, that I would have grown up to be a stunning woman. As soon as you said the word stunning, it was like I was transported back to that night…it felt like we were living through it again. I'm sorry, I know I scared you but I couldn't help it."

"Normally Abby's flashbacks pass within a few seconds and she isn't usually transported fully into them, but this time it was different-" Dave interrupted the doctor.

"Wait a second, you said _normally_ her flashbacks pass within a few seconds; do you mean she's had them before?"

Dr. Kendall glanced at Abby, wondering how much she wanted revealed, and was relieved when the teen nodded at her. "Abby has had numerous flashbacks since the attacks, but-"

Again, Dave didn't let the doctor finish her sentence. "Numerous flashbacks? You never thought to tell us about them?" He said loudly, his ire directed at his daughter.

"Dave," JJ began, but he wouldn't let her speak either.

"No, Jen, this is our daughter we're talking about, our daughter who has _apparently _been having flashbacks and we didn't goddamn well know about them! SOMEONE should have told us about it, because I was living under the illusion that she was making progress when it turns out she wasn't!"

"Dave, you know that whatever Abby tells me in these sessions are private; it was her choice not to tell you about them," Dr. Kendall told him.

"Why, honey?" JJ asked gently. "Why didn't you tell us you were still having such a difficult time?"

"I'm sorry," Abby whispered, clutching the pillow even tighter. "I was afraid you wouldn't let me go to school in California if you knew about them." Tears slowly coursed down her cheeks as she made her confession.

"Dammit, Abby!" Dave shouted in frustration as he stood up. Knowing he needed to get out of there before he exploded any further, he stalked out the door without another word.

JJ looked at the door that her husband had just exited with a look of frustration and anger as she let out a huff and started to get up from the sofa, when the therapist stopped her.

"Hang on JJ," she said, "I'll go after him."

JJ thought for a minute and then nodded; if the good doctor wanted to deal with Dave when he was being an ass, then so be it.

Sarah Kendall left the inner office and wasn't surprised to find the outer office empty. She left the room and headed down the hallway, hearing loud swearing and banging as she went along. Once she reached the end of the hallway, she found David Rossi trying to beat up the vending machine.

"Having problems?" She asked, arching one eyebrow.

"This goddamn thing took my money, but it's refusing to give me my fucking soda!" Dave said, giving the machine a vicious kick.

"There's a trick to it," Sarah responded. "May I?" She asked, motioning for Dave to step aside.

"Please do," he said gruffly. He watched the doctor hit a few spots on the machine in a rhythm and then heard the soda clinking towards the bottom of the machine.

"Here you go," she said as she reached down and got the drink. "Hmm, I didn't take you for a Mountain Dew man."

"I'm not, I got it for Abby," he said, looking at the floor. When he looked up, he saw that the doctor was staring at him thoughtfully. "What?"

"What's bothering you, Dave?" She asked, leaning against the wall.

"Don't worry about me, just focus on my daughter," he said gruffly.

"Yeah, well, when you shout at her and then storm out of a session, it makes my job much harder."

"I know; it was like I was outside of my body watching a madman yell at Abby…I can't believe I did that," he said.

"What happened? What made you lose your cool?" The doctor asked as she inserted her own money into the soda machine.

"I'm just so fucking frustrated! I have advanced degrees in psychology, I can get inside the head of psychopaths, of hardened serial killers but I can't help my own daughter! For Christ sake, she's been dealing with fucking _flashbacks_ for nearly two months and I haven't even known about it! What the fuck does that say about my skills as both a father and an investigator? If Abby was anyone else's kid, I would have been able to see that they were struggling, but my own daughter? Nope, I just let myself believe that everything was fine, that she had miraculously gotten better within the span of two months."

"Those are the key words, Dave, two months. Two. Months," she repeated. "It's only been two months since this happened to the three of you and I think Abby's made _tons _of progress since then. Rome wasn't built in a day, Dave, and it's going to take time for her…for all of you to get past this, and you know as well as I do that there are going to be setbacks but she'll get past them. You have a strong daughter and that's a testament to both you and your wife."

Dave, who had been somewhat calmed by the doctor's words, mumbled, "That's more JJ's doing than mine."

Dr. Kendall shook her head, "I can't say much without revealing confidences, but trust me, you've played just as important a role in Abby's character development as your wife has." She saw the profiler smile softly at that and she pushed herself off of the wall. "So are you ready to go back to the session?"

Dave winced and nodded, "I can't believe I acted like such an asshole to her. Do you think I fucked things up worse for her with my outburst?"

Sarah shook her head as they began to walk down the hallway, "You're a dad, not Superman, and dads occasionally lose their tempers at the wrong time; Abby will understand that," she told him as they reached the outer office.

"I hope you're right," he said as he opened the door to the inner office. He let the doctor go through the door first and then followed behind her. He resumed his position on the sofa, ignoring the glares from his wife, and then picked up his daughter's hand again.

"Sorry about that, Pumpkin; I was being an ass."

Abby looked up from the floor, "It's okay, I'm used to it," she said with a small smile. Dave just grinned and squeezed her hand. He was happy to receive a squeeze in return.

"So what can we do to prevent these attacks?" JJ asked. "Is there medication she can take?"

Abby strongly shook her head and Dr. Jacobs said, "Abby just needs time to get past what happened to her…to all of you. As I reminded your husband in the hallway, it's only been two months since you were all held at gunpoint and while Abby is making remarkable progress, it is unrealistic to think she would be over everything by now. If, in a couple of months, she's still having the flashbacks then we can talk about medication, but she doesn't want it and I tend to agree with her wishes."

"What about her going to school in California?" Dave asked and then saw the panicked look on his daughter's face. "Pumpkin, I'm not asking this because I want to keep you here under my thumb, I'm asking because I want to be sure that moving across the country won't hurt you any further."

"I think she'll be ready by the time classes start in August. I've already told Abby that I'll be available for counseling over the phone or via teleconference if the need arises and I will see her when she's in town for her school vacations," Dr. Kendall told them.

Both Dave and JJ nodded and then JJ asked, "What can we do for her today? I can tell she's still somewhat on edge so what can I do to help her?"

"As I'm sure you've witnessed, Abby has been stressed out these past few days, what with her schoolwork and her graduation looming and, as we all know, stress can trigger her nightmares and flashbacks. My advice would be for the three of you to get away from it all for the rest of the weekend. Go totally unplugged; go somewhere where there are no phones, no internet, no email, no television, nothing, just spend time with each other in a calm setting," the doctor advised and didn't miss the roll of her patient's eyes.

Dave and JJ, however, were thinking of places they could go with their daughter. Visions of five star hotels and spas danced in JJ's head, while a tent and the great outdoors danced in Dave's. Their inner planning was interrupted when Dr. Kendall stood up.

"I think that's enough for today; I'll see you for your regular appointment on Monday, Abby." The teen nodded as she and her parents also got up from the sofa.

"Thank you, Sarah, really; I know its Saturday and you probably had other plans for this morning," JJ said as she shook the therapist's hand.

"Don't worry about it, JJ, I'm glad I could help."

"You did," Dave said as he put his arm around his daughter's shoulders. Just the fact that Abby wasn't shrugging him off was testament to the progress she had made since the previous night.

The three of them walked out of the office and made their way to the parking lot, each of them thinking about the ways in which they should follow the therapist's advice. Dave and JJ had resumed their thoughts of spas and nature, while Abby was hoping to convince her parents that the doctor's advice of going 'unplugged' didn't include giving up her textbooks.


	116. Chapter 117

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 117

**~Let me take the time to say THANK YOU to all of my reviewers! The review reply function is still messed up, as is the PM system so I'm not sure if everyone has gotten my replies to the reviews. **

**~There are probably less than five chapters left to this story, so if you have something you want to see, let me know and I'll try and work it in.**

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"So what's on your mind?" Abby asked her mother as she plopped a cold can of Pepsi in her lap.

After much discussion between JJ and Dave, it was decided that the family would go to Dave's hunting cabin in order to go unplugged, as Dr. Kendall had suggested. JJ had tried to persuade her husband to stay in a classy DC hotel, but Dave had argued that none of them would be totally unplugged and able to relax in that setting. He had pushed hard for camping, but once she learned there would be no bathrooms in the wilderness, Abby had refused to consider the notion and JJ had sided very firmly with her daughter; she could live without most things in life, but indoor plumbing was not one of them. Finally, as a compromise, Dave's functional, four walls plus a bathroom cabin was decided as their getaway.

Abby had grumbled about it at first, which had actually pleased her parents because it was normal behavior for her, but she had eventually come around to their way of thinking. Just because she agreed to the outing didn't mean she didn't try sneaking some electronics with her. As her dad was loading her duffel bag into the back of the SUV, her cell phone, which she had hidden the bag, had rung leading her parent to search the bag. Unfortunately for her, they'd found the phone, her kindle and a textbook. After a brief lecture from them about following her doctor's orders and learning to relax, Abby had left her items at the cabin and brought a teen chick-lit book with her instead.

"Isn't that supposed to be my line?" JJ asked wryly, as she opened the soda and then shifted in the rickety lawn chair. Dave's hunting cabin was an actual cabin, as opposed to the 'cabin' they lived in. It had four drafty walls with, thankfully, an attached bathroom and that was it. The kitchen had a two burner stove and a small dorm fridge, the sleeping area had one double bed and the living room area, which was about two feet away from the sleeping area, had a sofa that looked like it had been new back when Nixon was in office. The only thing that separated this experience from camping was the indoor plumbing.

The cabin also did not have a deck, porch or even a patio. The girls were currently sitting on the lawn near the house in uncomfortable and unsteady lawn chairs and they were watching as Dave chopped wood further down the hill from the cabin. While it was fairly warm outside during the day, it was supposed to get chilly that night and, since the cabin didn't have heating, he wanted to cut enough wood so they could build a fire in the fireplace that night. That and, since the cabin also didn't have a stove or grill, they would be cooking over an open fire in the fire pit in the backyard of the cabin, so they would need plenty of wood.

"Maybe, but I can tell you've had something in the back of your mind for the last week or two, so what is it?" Abby asked as she cracked open her soda and sat down in the chair next to her mother.

"Aren't we supposed to be here for _you_ to talk to?" JJ asked, deflecting her daughter's question, but it had truth to it. They had been there for most of the afternoon and, while Abby had pretty much gone back to being her normal self again, she wasn't talking to them and JJ wished she would, although she wouldn't force her to.

"_No,"_ Abby said, "Dr. Kendal said we should spend time together in a calm setting; nowhere in those directions did she say that I had to spill my guts."

"Yeah, well, nowhere in those directions did she say that I had to spill _my _guts either," JJ retorted. Abby just shook her head and they both sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Dad realizes we're not going to be here for two weeks, right?" Abby asked when she saw how much wood he was actually chopping.

JJ nodded, "He's just working out his frustrations on the remnants of that tree."

"Is he frustrated with me?" Abby asked. "I know I should've told you guys about the flashbacks, but-"

"He's not frustrated with you," JJ said, trying to reassure her daughter. "He's frustrated that he can't help you; he sees himself as failing as a father with you." JJ had confronted her husband about his little meltdown at the psychiatrist's office while packing and he'd told her all of this.

"He's nuts, he's a great dad!" Abby exclaimed.

"_I _know he is and _you_ know he is, but _he_ doesn't think so. You know he feels guilty about everything that has happened to us."

Abby remained silent, as did JJ and they sat like that for a few more minutes, until Abby once again spoke up.

"By the way, I haven't forgotten my original question."

"Which was?" JJ asked, trying to deflect it again.

"What's been on your mind for the past few weeks?"

JJ sighed, "Don't worry about it, honey, it's just something I have to work out on my own."

"That's really fair," Abby huffed. "You expect me to tell you everything about _my_ life, but you won't tell me about yours?"

"It's different," JJ told her.

"How?" Abby asked, not backing down.

"Because I'm the mom and you're the kid; you don't have to know everything that goes on in my life but it _is _myjob to look after you and to know about what's happening in yours."

"Oh, please," Abby said with a wave of her hand, "You and I have _never _had that type of relationship; you've always treated me like an equal, or as close to one as I could get while still being a kid, and you're going to change that now?"

JJ sighed again, "Fine, I wasn't going to say anything because it's still only in the discussion stage but…your father and I are thinking of having another child."

"Holy shit!" Abby exclaimed; that was the _last_ thing she had expected her mother to say! "But…how?" Abby asked. "I thought you couldn't have any more kids."

"I can't," JJ affirmed, "But we are thinking of using other methods to have one."

"Adoption?" The teen asked.

Her mother shook her head, "Between my health and your father's age, we're not candidates for adoption. No, we're thinking of surrogacy."

"No kidding?" Abby asked rhetorically. "So what's the problem? You're obviously not sure that you want to do it."

"It's not that I don't want to do it, it's just that…well…this had never occurred to me before; I always thought I would have just one child and now that I'm getting older, I'm not sure I want to go through it all again."

"Jeez mom, you make it sound like you're ancient, but you're not," Abby told her. "I don't know how much my opinion will mean to you, but I think it's a great idea; you and dad have been great parents to me and you should totally have another kid. Besides, it would be fun for me to have a little brother or sister."

"Well, if your father and I decide to do this, we won't even begin to really start the process until the fall, so you'll have to wait awhile for a younger sibling," JJ said with a smile at hearing that her daughter thought she was a great mother. "Okay, now it's your turn. Talk," she ordered.

Abby stared at the ground for a moment. "Okay, but does it have to be about my flashback? Can I talk to you about something else?"

"Honey, you can talk to me about whatever you like," JJ responded.

Taking a deep breath, Abby said, "I'm going to sleep with Jack in the near future; the _very _near future."

"Oh," JJ said, not entirely surprised. "And by sleep with him, you mean?" She wanted to make sure she was totally clear about her daughter's intentions.

"I mean we're going to have sex," Abby said, turning slightly red. "And when you and dad talked to me about sex, you made me promise to let you know when I was serious about having it, so I am."

"Okay," her mother said, taking a deep breath. Before she spoke, she glanced down the hill at her husband. Since he wasn't keeling over due to a stroke and he wasn't running for the car to hunt Jack down and kill him, it was a pretty good bet he couldn't hear their conversation and she was grateful for that. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"I am…I love him, mom."

JJ heard the sincere love in her daughter's voice and knew there was no way she would be able to change her mind, much like her own mother wouldn't have been able to change hers about Dave. "Okay…of course I would prefer you wait until you're married for this, but you have to do what's best for you," she said. "Are you prepared?" If she couldn't stop her from doing it, she was going to make damn sure that her daughter was safe about it.

Abby nodded, "I've been on the pill since our last talk in February and Jack has condoms, so we're set."

JJ knew that she should be pissed that her daughter had gone on birth control without telling her, but, again, she had done the same thing when she was Abby's age and she was happy that both kids were taking responsibility for their safety, so she didn't say anything about it. "Well, okay then. Honestly, I don't know what else to say, other than thank you for keeping your end of the promise."

"I knew it was important to you," her daughter responded. "Um, mom? We don't have to tell dad about this, do we?" She knew her dad would lose his shit if he heard about this and she didn't think he needed to be all that knowledgeable about her sex life. Thankfully, her mother seemed to agree.

"No," JJ shook her head, "It's definitely best if your father didn't know about this."

Abby gave her a relieved smile, "Thanks mom, you're the greatest."

xxxxxxxxxx

The rest of the night passed uneventfully; Dave charred their food over the open flame and left it barely edible and then they sat around the fire in a comfortable silence until it was time to go to bed. Dave and JJ shared the small bed, while Abby stretched out on the rock-hard sofa. Between the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements and the drafty noises the cabin made, none of them got much quality sleep that night.

Waking from a nightmare in which she witnessed Suzette execute her parents in front of her, Abby sat up with a gasp. Grateful that she had awakened before she screamed, she looked out the window and saw the sun barely peeking over the horizon. She knew that sleep was a lost cause, so she quietly got up from the sofa, slipped her shoes on and then exited the cabin and went back to her unsteady lawn chair. A few minutes later, she heard someone behind her and she wasn't surprised to hear her father's voice.

"Take a walk with me?" He asked. She nodded and rose from her chair. Soon the two of them were in the middle of the forest, listening to the birds chirping at the new day.

"I wanted to apologize again for yelling at you during your therapy session yesterday," he said. "I shouldn't have done it; it's just that I'm frustrated that, despite all of my training, I can't seem to help you through this."

Abby stopped dead in her tracks and looked at her dad, "But you _have _helped me! You've been patient and caring and, for the most part, you've let me deal with everything at my own pace. I never could've gotten through all of this if it weren't for you and mom!"

"But you didn't tell us about the flashbacks," Dave said. "You kept that from us and, I gotta tell you honey, that threw me for a gigantic loop. Why'd you do it? I know you said you were afraid that we wouldn't let you go to school in Berkeley, but there's got to be more to it than that."

The teen sighed, "I know you feel guilty about what happened to me that night…hell, you feel guilty that anything happened to me _at all_, and I knew that if you knew about my flashbacks, you would feel even guiltier, so I kept them from you."

"Abigail, my guilt is something that I have to work through; I _don't _want you keeping things from me in order to protect me, okay? If something is bothering you, if you have another flashback or even just a thought about that night, I want to hear about it."

She nodded, "Okay."

At that moment, they heard JJ's voice behind them. "Hey, is there room for one more on this hike?" She asked brightly.

"Sure," her husband said warmly. "How did you know where to find us?"

"I heard your voices; you didn't go too far from the cabin."

She and Dave linked hands and started walking again, but after a few steps they saw that their daughter was still standing in the same spot and she looked to be deep in thought.

"Are you okay, honey?" JJ asked.

"I feel like Suzette succeeded in killing me that night," she said softly as she stared at the ground.

Both Dave and JJ knew they needed to tread lightly; Abby was finally talking to them about that night and they didn't want her to clam up again.

"What do you mean?" JJ asked gently.

"I mean, everything that made me _me_ died in the study that night! I look at pictures of me…of us...that were taken before that night and I don't recognize the girl in the picture. The Abigail Rossi in the pictures was a bright, independent and confident girl but the Abigail Rossi now is indecisive, unsure of herself and crazy emotional. I don't know who I am anymore!" Abby was near tears by that point.

"Listen to me, Abby," Dave said, walking towards her. When he was directly in front of her, he said, "You are still the same person you always were! You _are _bright and confident and independent! You are the strongest person I know and, yeah, things might seem tough now, but you'll get back to who you were before Suzette fucked with everything, and your mom and I will be here for you whenever you need us." He pulled her into a hug and held her there while JJ spoke.

"And you _are _getting better! I know it's hard to see right now, especially after the last couple of days, but you are so much better than you were after that horrible night. You don't have as many nightmares, you're not terrified to be alone and you're able to walk past the study without turning pale," she said. "You're also much more confident than you give yourself credit for. Sure, you're not exactly like you were before everything happened, but nobody could go through what we went through unchanged! Your father's right, with time you'll be like you were before, I'm sure of it." With that, JJ also hugged her daughter and tried to reassure her, via the hug, that everything would be okay.

Her parent's reassurances helped to calm Abby down. "I love you guys," she said, her voice muffled by her father's shoulder.

xxxxxxxxxx

Later that night, when they walked into their normal, luxurious cabin, they were greeted by the smell of tomato sauce and garlic bread. All three of their mouths started watering as they made their way to the kitchen and saw Dave's mother working at the stove.

"Nonna!" Abby exclaimed as she went to give her grandmother a hug.

"Hello Little One," she said gently. "How are you?" She had heard about the flashback from her son, and while she also wasn't happy that her granddaughter had been keeping them from her, she didn't say anything about it.

"I'm…better," she said.

"What are you doing here, ma?" Dave asked.

"I thought that after living at your ramshackle hunting cabin for the last twenty-four hours, you all could use a decent meal."

"You're a lifesaver, Marie," JJ said gratefully.

Abby heard her phone buzz from the kitchen counter and went to grab it. "What the hell? I have eight voicemails and twenty-two text messages. See? I _told _you that if I left my cell phone here, something would happen!" With that, she left the kitchen and went into the great room to check her messages. Soon after they heard her talking on the phone.

"So how is she really?" Marie asked in soft voice.

"She's doing okay," JJ said. "She scared the hell out of us with her flashback but after talking with Dr. Kendall yesterday and our unplugged day, I think she's doing pretty well."

"She got some things off of her chest about that night in the study and I'd like to think we helped her a little," Dave told her.

"I'm sure you did, Davie," Marie said as she tasted the sauce. She was about to add to her comment when Abby reappeared in the doorway to the kitchen with a stunned look on her face.

"Abby, what is it?" JJ asked, concerned that she was having another flashback. To her relief, when her daughter looked up at her, there was no hint of the horror or despair that had clouded her eyes a few nights previously.

"I'm…I'm the valedictorian," she said in a daze.

"WHAT?" The three adults asked in unison.

The teen nodded, "Yeah, the first voicemail was from Principal Greene asking me to call her at home. Apparently Eric Lee turned in an essay that he bought from a website and because of that, the highest he can get in the course is a C, if the teacher doesn't just fail him, and that bumps me up to the valedictorian spot."

"Oh my God, honey! Congratulations!" JJ exclaimed.

"Congratulations? Really?" Abby asked in a slightly hysterical voice. "I'm not ready for this! I never thought I would be valedictorian! This is crazy!"

"Sweetheart, you're freaking out," Dave said gently, but he was wearing a large grin.

"No shit I'm freaking out! Join me, won't you?" The pitch of her voice rose with every word and, by the end, only dogs and bats could hear what she was saying.

"What's the problem, Little One?" Marie asked. "I thought you _wanted_ to be valedictorian."

"I do, but I wanted some time to let it sink in, to prepare for it," she said. "I have to write a speech! Oh my God, I have to write a speech and deliver it in front of EVERYBODY! I can't do that! I can't write a speech in a week! I can't get up and speak in front of hundreds…no, _thousands _of people!"

"Yes you can, Abby," JJ said firmly. "This is what you've wanted since your first day of Kindergarten! And we'll help you with your speech, so don't worry about that, just soak up the moment; you are the smartest in your class!"

"Oh my God, this is really happening, isn't it?" Abby asked, this time a bit calmer. "I really did it, I'm the valedictorian."

"You are," JJ said with tears in her voice. She was so incredibly happy for her daughter.

"It kind of blows the mind, doesn't it?" Abby asked, still in shock over the turn of events, but she was getting over it and she was beginning to feel immensely proud of herself.

"It does, but you deserve it," Dave said. "Now, it would be my pleasure to escort the valedictorian to the dinner table," he told her as he held his arm out to her. Abby smiled as she took his arm and walked with him into the dining room. Between her finals, writing a speech and preparing for graduation, it would be a crazy week but, thanks largely in part to her parents; she knew she could handle it.


	117. Chapter 118

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 118

**~Okay, so I totally ripped this chapter off from a chapter out of my very first story, 'A Different Kind of Life,' which is okay since I think I only had about fourteen readers for that story. Seriously, if you haven't read it, don't...I keep the story up to remind myself how far I've come as an author. That said, if you're one of the dozen people who _have_ read the story, this chapter is similar but different, so hopefully you'll enjoy it.**

******~Let me again thank all of the reviewers out there! The reviews really keep me motivated.**

* * *

Dave and JJ were going to kill their daughter.

It was a shame because they really loved her, but they were going to kill her if she didn't sit down and relax for a minute. It was the day before Abby's high school graduation and she had been flitting around the house all morning, cleaning and rearranging things. When she wasn't cleaning, she was sniping at them about little things and she was starting to get on both of their last nerves.

They understood why she was so nervous; she had been made the valedictorian at the last moment and with finals and papers due every day for the past week, she hadn't had much time to write her speech. Now that she finally had the time to write, she had been struck with a case of writer's block and she was terrified that she would get up on the stage the next day and have nothing to say, which also didn't help her fear of public speaking. As a result, she couldn't sit still to save her life.

The last straw came at about two o'clock on that rainy Saturday afternoon. Both Dave and JJ had settled onto the sofa to watch _Breakfast at Tiffany's_ and Dave was ecstatic that he had convinced his wife to watch a classic movie, instead of one of the God awful comedies she and their daughter liked so much. As they relaxed and lost themselves in the romantic film, Abby came in and started dusting _again. _Normally the teen wouldn't be caught dead doing housework but when she was nervous or stressed out, she cleaned. It wouldn't have been so bad, but the house had been clean to begin with since Dave tried to keep it tidy, so there wasn't much for their daughter to do and, as a result, she just kind of hovered nervously while the couple attempted to watch their movie.

After about five minutes of Abby's nervous fidgeting, Dave finally paused the DVD and spoke up, "Why don't you sit down with us and unwind, Pumpkin? We'll even let you put in one of your zombie movies, if you want to." As a rule, Dave HATED the zombie movies that his daughter liked and he really didn't want to stop his movie right in the middle of it, but if it got his daughter to sit down, it would be worth it.

"Are you crazy?" Abby looked at him as if he had suggested she dye her hair green. "There is a TON of stuff to get done before my graduation ceremony and party tomorrow! Stuff that, evidently, I'll have to do by myself since everyone _else_ in the house have made themselves comfy on the couch."

Both JJ and Dave could hear the sarcasm dripping from her words, but they chose to ignore it. "What else needs to be done, Abby?" Dave asked. "The cabin is immaculate, the food has been bought and we can't set anything up in the backyard because of the rain." Abby tried interrupting, but Dave kept going, his irritation building. "I know what you're going to say; I checked the weather forecast and it's supposed to be sunny and seventy-eight degrees tomorrow, so you don't have to worry. I also know that your graduation robe is pressed and hanging along with your dress in your closet, so there is nothing else that needs to be, or _can _be, done until tomorrow. Now, for the love of GOD, will you sit down?"

Abby stared at him for a second and then flopped onto the sofa. She kept tapping her feet and her hands kept moving restlessly, but at least she was sitting. Dave and JJ turned back to their movie, only to be interrupted two minutes later.

"Do you really think the house is clean enough?" She asked thoughtfully. "Maybe I should vacuum again."

Dave paused the DVD again and pinched the bridge of his nose. JJ, knowing that her husband was close to snapping at their anxious daughter, answered the question. "Abby, honey, the house is fine, the president himself could be coming tomorrow and the house would be good enough. Besides, it's just the team and our family coming tomorrow; it's not as if the floors need to be clean enough to eat off of."

Abby looked at her in horror, "Oh my God, do you think the floors are dirty? Should I mop again?" She started to get up from the couch, but her father grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. For a split second, he considered slipping a valium into the juice his daughter was drinking.

"The floors are FINE, Abby. Jesus Christ, you are going to drive me _insane_," he said testily.

She sat quietly for another minute, just long enough for them to resume their movie and start watching again. "Are you sure we have enough food for tomorrow?"

Dave once again pressed pause on the remote and mentally counted to ten. "Yes, I'm positive we have enough food for tomorrow," he said through clenched teeth. "We have nearly half of a cow sitting in the refrigerator, we have a plethora of brats and hot dogs and my mother will be here to put all of the side dishes together. Everything will be fine!"

"You're not going to set the back yard on fire again with your grilling, are you?" She asked belligerently.

Dave heard his wife try to cover her laughter in a cough as he glared at their daughter, "That only happened once!" He protested in defense of his grilling skills.

"Yeah, right!" Abby snarked. "It only happened _once_ because after the first time mom insisted on having a fire extinguisher nearby. How many times have you used it? Two times? Three times?"

He gave her a dirty look, "You will be happy to know that Aaron and Derek will be doing most of the grilling tomorrow, so you don't have to worry; everything doesn't have to be perfect tomorrow!"

Abby snorted, "I'm sorry? The biggest perfectionist on the planet is telling me that something doesn't have to be perfect?" She asked loudly. "Don't' say things you don't understand, dad!"

Dave just stared at her for a moment, "You know how I have a line that you shouldn't cross with your smart remarks?"

"Am I coming up to it?" Abby asked, a bit sheepishly.

"No, look behind you," he said sternly.

"Sorry," the teen said, not sounding at all apologetic. She was quiet for another few minutes and Dave, again, picked up the DVD remote and pressed play. Both he and JJ once again began watching their movie until Abby spoke.

"Maybe I should just dust over there…" she said to herself as she looked across the room.

Ignoring his wife's silent laughter, Dave set the DVD remote down hard onto the coffee table. "That's it! Both of you get your gym bags and meet me at the door in five minutes."

"Where are we going?" Abby asked, confused.

"To the FBI gym at headquarters. Maybe that will help you burn off some of your nervous energy," Dave told her. 'God help us all if it doesn't,' he thought to himself.

xxxxxxxxxx

Two hours later, after Abby had swum many laps and then run on the indoor track, JJ watched as she beat the crap out of a punching bag. God, she was strong! It had been awhile since they had worked out together, what with her injuries and their time restricted to the cabin earlier in the spring, and she had forgotten just how much of a punch her daughter could pack.

"A little bit afraid of your daughter's strength?" Hotch asked as he came up next to her.

With her eyes still on Abby, JJ nodded, "Where did my little girl go and who is this strong, focused, _determined _young woman?"

"Don't ask me," he replied, "I'm still searching for my little boy who argued with me over wearing his Captain America pajamas to school." He gestured to Jack, who was doing pushups on a mat near Abby.

JJ sighed, "Why did they have to grow up so quickly?"

"Who knows?" Hotch responded, "It's like I blinked and suddenly my son turned into a young man."

"Can't we just lock them up somewhere so they can stay kids forever?" JJ asked and then thought about what she'd said. "Okay, that sounded a lot like what we hear from some of our unsubs…forget I said that."

"Done," her boss said with a smile.

"What are you and Jack doing here?" She asked.

"The kid wouldn't settle down! I know he's nervous and excited to graduate tomorrow, but I was ready to kill him. I'm hoping he'll tire himself out here."

"That's our plan too; I thought Dave was going to have a stroke when Abby kept interrupting our movie," JJ told him.

"Well she wouldn't sit still," Rossi complained, coming up behind them. He watched his daughter beat up the punching bag for a moment and then shook his head. "Although if I had remembered she could hit like that, I wouldn't have pushed it with her."

"It's too bad Morgan isn't here to work with her," JJ said with a grin and Hotch snorted loudly.

"What? Why is that so funny?" Dave asked, knowing it was one of those things he had missed in his daughter's childhood.

"Let's just say there's a reason Morgan turns pale whenever Abby even jokingly asks to spar with him," Hotch said smiling.

"Oh now I _have _to hear the story," Dave practically begged and JJ and Hotch were only too happy to oblige him…

Fourteen year old Abigail Jareau sat in one of the visitor's chairs on the other side of her pseudo-uncle's desk and sighed. It was a beautiful summer day outside, one of the few left before school started again, and where was she? Stuck in one of the FBI buildings in Quantico, forced to stare at the blue sky from inside her uncle's office. As she thought about school starting in a few short days, she sighed again.

Hotch, who was working on the never ending paperwork that always seemed to find it's way to his desk, gave a sigh of his own as he looked up.

"I have to finish filling out these forms, Abby, so I need you to sit quietly. I thought you had a new book to read?"

"I do, Uncle Aaron, but I'm not in the mood to read, I want to _do _something!" She said, fidgeting in her seat.

Hotch looked at her sympathetically; she was a kid at the end of her summer break, of course she wanted to be running around outside even if she was fourteen but, unfortunately, her babysitter was sick that day and JJ had had no choice but to bring her into the office with her. Since the media liaison was currently in a meeting, it had fallen to Hotch to watch her for the afternoon and he knew that his brand of fun, at the moment, left something to be desired.

"I know you do," he said, "But I have to work on this right now."

"It's not fair," Abby said, pouting a little. "It's my summer vacation and I'm stuck here; mom could have left me at home, I'm old enough to look after myself." She was frustrated with her mom and her uncle; it was humiliating to have a babysitter at fourteen. Plus, she didn't even have Jack to hang out with since he was at camp and her best friend Baca was at her grandparent's house.

Hotch shook his head, "No you're not, your mom and I agreed that you won't need a babysitter next summer, but you're too young to be on your own this summer." After what both he and JJ had seen in their jobs, they preferred to err on the side of caution when it came to their kids and if hiring professional babysitters for their fourteen-year olds for the summer was overkill, then so be it. They both would rather have their kids embarrassed than dead.

"But-" Abby began to argue, but stopped when Derek poked his head into the office.

"Hey Hotch, my paperwork is finished so I'm going down to the gym to work out. Wanna join me?" He asked.

Hotch looked at his stack of paperwork and shook his head, "Sorry Morgan, it looks like I still have a couple of hours work here."

"Okay man, have fun with that," Derek said and then left his office. Before the man was ten steps away from the door, Hotch called out to him.

"Hey Morgan?" A moment later the profiler was back at his door. "Why don't you take Abby with you?"

"I don't know, Hotch," Derek said hesitantly. It's not that he didn't like the kid, it's just that babysitting hadn't been in his plans for that afternoon…showing off for the new honey in white collar crimes definitely was. But then he saw the way the kid's face fell and he knew he had to rescue her from sheer boredom.

"Okay Little J, you're with me." Abby was so happy to have something to do that she didn't even yell at Derek for calling her by her hated nickname, she just followed him to the locker rooms went to her mother's locker for the change of clothes she had stashed there.

Two hours later, Hotch looked up from his paperwork again when he heard someone enter his office. "So did you lock my kid in the supply closet?" JJ asked dryly as she sat down across from him. "Because I'm not entirely sure that I'll be mad if you did."

"She's been getting on your nerves too?" Hotch asked.

JJ nodded, "If she whines to me one more time that she doesn't need a babysitter, I'm going to seriously lose it with her."

"I got the same reaction from Jack," the unit chief said, "Thank God he's at camp this week, otherwise I'd probably still be hearing it from him."

JJ was about to say something else when Garcia knocked on the open office door; she looked like she was ready to burst with excitement. "Sorry to interrupt, but word has it that Derek and Abby are going to spar in the gym."

"WHAT?" JJ asked. Sure, she and Aaron had taught her daughter some self defense moves, but there was no WAY she was ready for Derek.

"Yeah," Penelope said, nodding her head enthusiastically. "Apparently he and Emily have been teaching her some pretty in-depth defense techniques and Derek's ready to put her to the test."

"I have to stop this," JJ said getting up from her seat.

"Hang on, JJ," Hotch said. "This might be a good thing. She's starting high school in a few days and wouldn't you rather she know how to protect herself from the hormonal high school boys?" He knew he would sleep better knowing his niece knew how to kick a guy's ass.

"But Hotch, what if she gets hurt?"

"Morgan isn't going to let that happen. Sure, she might get a few bruises, but that's better than her being attacked at a high school dance, isn't it?" He asked, not entirely joking.

JJ thought for a minute, "You're right," she finally said, "But I want to watch to make sure it doesn't get too out of hand."

"Let's go," the unit chief said as he stood up. He also wanted to watch, not to make sure Abby was okay, but to make sure _Morgan_ didn't get hurt; his niece was wily and while she looked like a typical teenage girl on the outside, he knew that if Morgan pissed her off enough, she would fight back hard.

Garcia and Reid followed them down to the gym and soon there was a small crowd gathered to watch. "She looks so small," JJ whispered as she took her seat on one of the bleachers and stared down at her daughter. Comparatively, Derek seemed gigantic and even Emily seemed larger than life. All she could see was her baby standing on the mats and she wanted to go down and pull her away, but she knew Hotch was right; she needed to learn how to take care of herself.

Down on the mats, Derek and Emily finished modeling some of the moves for Abby. "You up for trying some of this, Little J?"

"Um, sure…I guess so," she replied, sounding anything but sure.

"What's wrong? This is just practice so why are you so unsure about yourself?" Morgan asked.

"They're making me nervous," Abby said, gesturing to the people seated in the bleachers. "Plus, I'm scared I might hurt you." While the teen was apprehensive about all of the people watching, she was fairly confident in her skills; after all, her mother and uncle had been drilling them into her, in one form or another, since her mother had joined the bureau and she knew she could pack one hell of a punch or kick if she had to.

Derek laughed at her concern, "Don't worry about me, I think I can hold my own against a fourteen year-old girl," he said condescendingly, catching glares from both Abby and Emily. "As for the audience, just pretend they aren't' there, focus entirely on what we're doing."

Abby took his advice and focused hard. Derek came at her and she tried throwing a punch the way he'd showed her but he caught her arm and put her on the floor. She got up and he came at her again and got a hold of her other arm. Abby tried a release move but Derek got out of it and put her on the floor again.

"Dammit!" She yelled, frustrated. It took everything JJ had not to go down to the mats and start screaming at Derek, but she knew Emily was down there and she was confident her friend would stop things if they got too intense.

"Come on, Abby, think about what I taught you!" Derek directed as he came at her again. This time he got his arms around the teen, but she was able to break free. Just as she turned to fight him, he tripped her and she went down again.

"Son of a bitch!" She spat; she had been _so _close to winning and for him to just trip her like that pissed her off to no end.

"You need to focus, Little J," Morgan said as he came at her yet again.

The use of the hated nickname, combined with her frustration, served to royally piss Abby off. "Don't. Call. Me. Little J!" She shrieked as he approached her. Facing her, he clamped his hands down onto her shoulders and everything he, Emily, her mother and her uncle had taught her came rushing back at her. Seeing that he had left himself wide open, she instinctively brought her knee up to his groin. Unfortunately for Derek, at that very same moment the 'honey' from white collar crimes entered the gym and he lost focus on his lesson with the pissed off teenager.

Bam! Abby's knee hit her target with stunning force and accuracy and Derek went down hard with a loud shriek.

It took a full two minutes for the raucous laughter to die down from the bleachers. As he got control of his breathing again, Hotch looked through his tears of mirth to see how the rest of his team had reacted. He saw that Reid and JJ were doubled over with laughter, and Garcia's shrieks of hilarity were rattling the windows. Everyone else around them had also found the action extremely amusing. The only people in the gymnasium who weren't laughing were Abby and Derek.

"Oh God! Derek, are you okay?" Abby said, kneeling down next to him.

"Yeah, I'll be fine…I just need a minute…" he grunted.

"I'm SO sorry! You made me really mad when you called me Little J and everything you taught me came rushing back at me and then you weren't paying attention, but I didn't think-" Abby was rambling, trying to explain what had happened when he finally interrupted her.

"It's okay, Abby, I should've been paying more attention. I'm actually kind of proud that you remembered everything you've been taught over the years. Besides, at least _you're _trying to help me," he said, giving a dirty look to his team members in the bleachers, all of whom were still trying to quell their laughter.

Emily finally got herself under control and came over to them. "Are you really okay, Derek?" She asked, drying her eyes on her sleeve.

The profiler looked up from where he was still laying on the ground. "Yeah, I will be…I just need to get up slowly."

"Maybe now you won't be so quick to make assumptions. Maybe now you'll realize that you _can _get your ass, or nuts as the case may be, handed to you by a fourteen year old girl," Emily said as she proudly put her arm around the teen's shoulders.

"Yeah, I guess," he responded sheepishly, then he looked around and saw Garcia dashing out of the gymnasium. "Where's Penelope off to in such a hurry?"

"To her office," Reid said as the rest of the team made their way to the mats. "She said something about posting the surveillance video on YouTube."

"Oh _hell_ no! Derek exclaimed, getting to his feet as fast as he could, which was still pretty slow since he was still nursing his injury. "Baby girl, come on! Have mercy!" He begged as he ran…well, limped to her office.

"…The video went viral in a matter of hours and I think most of the hits were from FBI agents," JJ said, as she finished reminiscing.

"That was one of the best stories I've ever heard," Dave said laughing. "And I'm glad to know she can take care of herself."

"Who can take care of herself?" Abby asked, coming up to the group; she had heard the laughter and came to investigate it with Jack in tow.

"You," Hotch said. "We were telling your dad about your one and only self-defense lesson with Derek."

Abby grinned, "I've asked him to teach me other moves, but he always makes excuses for not doing it."

Dave studied his daughter and saw that she looked decidedly less high-strung than before. "How are you doing?" He asked, "Are you a bit calmer now?"

The teen nodded, "Yeah, I think I'm worn out. Can we head home now?"

"Jack, Emily and I were going to go out to grab a bite to eat, why don't you guys join us?" Hotch asked.

Dave looked at his wife and daughter and saw them nodding. "Okay Hotch, let's all grab showers and meet in the bullpen in half an hour."

"Sounds good," Hotch said and everyone else nodded their agreement and made their way to their respective locker rooms. As he watched his son and Abby walk hand in hand, he sighed and wished, once again, that they could have remained kids forever.


	118. Chapter 119

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 119

* * *

JJ awoke to both the sound of music and the clattering of dishes coming from the kitchen. With a groan, she rolled over and glanced at the clock and was surprised to see that it read six-fifteen. Since her daughter hated mornings as much as she did, she wondered what in the hell she was doing up so early. Sighing, she tried disentangling herself from her husband's arms without waking him but every time she tried escaping from his clutches, he held on tighter. Finally, she reached up and tickled his nose a little and as soon as he lifted his hand to scratch it, she wriggled away from him. As she searched for her pajamas, which had been carelessly tossed aside in the heat of their passion the previous night, she heard her husband say, "This is a view I could get used to."

JJ turned around and saw her husband leering at her naked form from his position on the bed. "Well honey, unfortunately we have a list of things to do today, so we'll both have to get dressed."

"Eventually," Dave agreed, "But it doesn't have to be right now. Why don't you come back to bed for another round?"

To his disappointment, she shook her head as she pulled pair of panties out of her dresser drawer and slipped into them. "I would love to, but it seems that our daughter is up and about."

"What the hell?" He responded, "It's not even six-thirty yet, what is she doing up?"

JJ shrugged as she pulled a nightgown over her head, "I don't know, I can't read her mind, but if I had to guess I would say she's still nervous about her graduation today."

"Well I hope to Christ she's calmer than she was yesterday, or she might not live to see her graduation," he snarked as he got up and pulled on his robe. When he turned around, he was shocked to see tears streaming down his wife's face. "Jesus Jen, what's wrong?"

She shook her head as she wiped her face with her hands, "She almost _didn't _live to see it Dave."

Regretting his smart remark, he pulled his wife into his arms, "But she _is _alive and we're all here to witness her accomplishments and that's what counts."

"I know," she said, nodding into his chest. "I'm just emotional today…it's not everyday that I watch my baby graduate from high school."

"It's okay, honey, you have every right to be emotional," Dave told her soothingly. They stood like that for a moment until JJ finally pulled herself from his strong embrace.

"We should probably get down there before she tears the place apart."

"Okay, but I'm going to grab a quick shower first, I'll meet you down there," Dave told her.

"Hey! Why do I have to deal with our hyperactive daughter?" JJ complained as her husband backed up towards the bathroom.

"Two reasons," he responded. "First, if she's as fidgety as she was yesterday, I can't promise I won't strangle her…or at the very least slip some valium into her food and second, you've been dealing with Penelope Garcia for the last ten years, so you have _much _more experience with this than I do."

"You make some good points," JJ grumbled, "but you're going to owe me. Big time."

"How about I begin paying back my debt tonight?" He suggested with a waggle of his eyebrows.

JJ grinned, "You're on, old man, but it'll take a whole lot more than one amazing night to pay back _this_ debt." With that, she left the room, but her husband's laughter followed her down the hallway.

As she made her way down the stairs, JJ fervently prayed that her daughter would be less high strung than she had been the previous day. She knew Abby was nervous about her speech and excited to finally be graduating, but she really needed to chill out a little. With that thought in her head, she gave a small sigh of relief as she entered the kitchen and found it almost as clean as it had been the day before.

"Abby?" JJ asked and was surprised when a head popped up above the counter top.

"Hi mom," she said happily. "You scared me!"

"Sorry about that; what are you doing?"

"I couldn't sleep this morning, so I made my sausage and egg casserole. I was just putting it into the oven when you walked in," she explained as she set the timer. Once the timer had been set, she asked, "Do you want some coffee?"

"Sure," JJ replied, knowing that she would need all of the strength she could get in order to get through the upcoming day.

Abby poured two mugs, handed one to her mother and then said excitedly, "I'm graduating from high school today!"

JJ smiled at her exuberance, "You sure are, honey."

"I mean, I knew I was, but it was more abstract...it was more of a someday type of thing, but now it's finally real!" Abby said, bouncing a little.

"Why don't we go sit out on the porch swing?" JJ suggested. She was worried that if they remained standing, Abby might actually start jumping up and down and spill her scalding coffee on herself.

Abby agreed and she soon found herself sitting on the comfortable swing with her mother's arm around her shoulders.

"So did you get _any_ sleep last night?" JJ asked as Abby leaned in to her and rested her head on her shoulder. She wished she could stop time and have this moment with her daughter last forever.

"I did," Abby nodded. "After you and dad went to bed, I started chatting with Penelope via Facebook and she gave me some tips for my speech and it kinda broke down the writers' block I'd been having. I finished my speech by about twelve-thirty and then went to bed, so I got a solid five hours of sleep."

"Well, that's more than I thought you would get," JJ murmured. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few more minutes until Abby spoke again.

"So is it stupid that I'm making such a big deal about my graduation?" She asked. "I mean, I know it's only high school, but-"

"It is absolutely NOT stupid!" Her mother responded firmly. "You've worked incredibly hard for this day and it definitely SHOULD be a big deal for you. My God, Abby, you're the freaking valedictorian! How could it _not _be a big deal?"

Abby smiled, "Thanks mom."

"And just in case you haven't heard me the other eight hundred times I've said it, I am SO proud of you and what you've done!"

"Since you're so proud of me, does that mean if I were to ask you for a HUGE favor, you might grant it?" Abby asked, seeing an opening.

JJ's eyes narrowed slightly, "What kind of favor?"

The teen pulled out of her mother's embrace, turned and faced her and then took a deep breath. "I really want to stay out all night tonight. There is a bunch of stuff I want to do and parties I want to go to and it would be much easier to have fun tonight if I wasn't constantly worried about a curfew."

Since she was nervous, Abby spoke at a rapid pace and it took JJ a moment to understand what she was asking for, but once she did, she was conflicted. On the one hand, Abby was eighteen years old and it was her graduation night and she should be able to have all of the fun she wanted to. On the other hand, she was worried about her daughter's safety, even though she would be with Jack.

That was the other sticking point for JJ; she could read between the lines enough to know that Abby and Jack would probably have sex that night and she didn't know how she felt about it. While she didn't want to give the appearance of condoning it by giving Abby a curfew free night, she knew that her daughter had made up her mind and if she didn't do it tonight, she would find some other time to do it.

"Okay," she finally responded, "You can stay out all night."

"Really?" Abby asked in shock, she'd expected to have to fight much harder to get her way, and even then it would have been a crapshoot.

JJ nodded, "But there are a couple of conditions. First, no drugs of any kind." Abby nodded; she wasn't into that scene anyway, so that was an easy condition. "Second, if you and Jack drink at _all, _you call me or your dad for a ride home. Under no circumstances should you drive with even a _drop_ of alcohol in your system."

"So wait, you're not telling me not to drink, you're just telling me not to drive drunk?" Abby asked in shock. Normally it was a straight up 'no drinking and no drugs' order, not a 'call us if you've had too much to drink' order.

"Not drunk, I don't want you to drive if you've had _anything_ to drink," JJ clarified. "I'm not stupid, Abby, I know most of the parties will have liquor at them and if you think you need to celebrate that way, then I can't stop you, but if you drive under the influence of even the tiniest amount of alcohol, you'll face both mine and your father's wrath. Understood?" She asked sternly.

Abby nodded, "Got it."

"Good," JJ responded. "Finally, you're going to be out at a dangerous time, so if you feel unsafe in a situation, leave. I'm all for relying on facts and evidence but sometimes your gut feeling is the best thing to follow, so listen to it."

"Okay," Abby agreed. "Is there anything else?"

'Don't have sex!' JJ wanted to scream, but she just shook her head. "Nope, that's it."

"What about dad?" Abby asked. "You know he's going to have a problem with this."

"You leave your father to me, he owes me one," her mother responded, thinking back to earlier that morning.

"Thanks mom, I really appreciate it," Abby said excitedly. "God, when you envisioned this day, did you ever imagine it this way? That you would be married to dad and living in the lap of luxury?"

JJ smiled and shook her head, "No, I have to admit I didn't."

"Me neither," Abby said. "I pictured a small party at the apartment, or at Uncle Aaron's place, with the team and some of our friends there and possibly Grandfather Jareau, if he could find the time."

"Are you upset that your grandfather isn't coming?"

"God, no!" The teen said emphatically. "Although…I wish Grandma Abby was here…it's at times like this when I really miss her."

"I know you do, honey, so do I," JJ said wistfully.

"I mean, I love Nonna and she's been great, but I also really loved Grandma Abby."

"I get it Abby, but you have to remember that my mother _is _here with us, she's always with us and I know she's just as proud of you as I am," JJ said gently.

They sat in silence for another few minutes until they heard the door open behind them. "I see we're all up early today," Dave quipped, taking a large draw of coffee. He had been watching them through the front windows for the last few minutes and he could tell by his daughter's body language that she was much calmer than she was the previous day. He could also tell that the two women had been having a discussion and, not wanting to interrupt their girl talk, he'd waited inside until their conversation had ended.

JJ smiled at her husband, "It _is_ an ungodly hour of the morning, isn't it?" She stood up and stretched, "But as long as I'm up, I'm going to take a shower; you did save some hot water for me, right?"

Dave smirked, "Might I remind you that you and our daughter are the ones who like to stand under the spray until the hot water tank is empty? I spent five minutes in the shower, that's it. Frankly, I don't know what you girls do in there that takes so long."

Abby snorted, "Try shaving your legs in under ten minutes, dad."

JJ gave a bark of laughter as she walked back into the cabin. Dave, who had been leaning against the porch railing, took the vacated seat on the porch swing and, much like his wife, wrapped his arm around Abby's shoulders and pulled her in towards him.

"Can you do me a favor?" He asked.

"What?" Abby responded.

"Can you quit growing up so quickly?" Abby could hear the smile in her dad's voice, so she didn't say anything. "Seriously Pumpkin, it seems like I just met you yesterday and suddenly you're this beautiful, mature young woman. You're making me feel old."

Abby just giggled lightly and rested her head on her dad's shoulder. They remained like that for a few minutes and she felt her eyes begin to grow heavy. Just as she was on the verge of sleep, Dave spoke up.

"So how is today going to work? Are you sitting next to Jack?"

"No," Abby said with a mock sigh, "And it's all your fault."

"My fault? How is something like that my fault?" He asked, confused.

"If I was still a Jareau I would be sitting next to him since our names would have been together alphabetically, but now since he's an H and I'm an R, we're practically on opposite sides of the gym," she told him.

"Sorry Pumpkin, but it was your choice to become a Rossi, remember?" Dave chuckled and then as he mentally ran through the alphabet, a horrible thought struck him. "Oh my God, you're not sitting next to that scumbag Adam Sanford, are you?"

Abby grinned, "No. I should be, but Principal Greene isn't _that _stupid! She deftly moved some kids in between us. It won't be alphabetically correct, but it will prevent an all out melee between the two of us."

"Thank God," Dave said, knowing they had narrowly avoided bloodshed.

xxxxxxxxxx

Six hours later, Dave, JJ, Marie, the team and all of Dave's siblings were packed into rows of uncomfortable folding chairs, listening to people drone on and on about the importance of the future and the necessity of a college education. If it went on for much longer, Dave was sure he would stick something pointy in his ear; why couldn't they just move along to the good part? Since Abby had written her speech in the wee hours of the night, neither he nor JJ had heard it and they were both looking forward to it.

"That woman sure loves to hear herself speak," Dave remarked about Principal Greene, who was giving a long-winded speech. "God, can you imagine if she and Erin Strauss ever met? I think it would be the sign of an impending apocalypse."

"Sssshhhh," JJ admonished as she smashed her elbow into his ribcage. "Abby's up next!"

Sure enough, Principal Greene began reading off their daughter's accomplishments and then Abby stood up and made her way to the podium. Once there, she took a deep breath and began her speech.

"Good afternoon, respected guests and members of the community, faculty, family, friends and fellow graduates. I am truly honored to be standing here representing the graduating class of 2011." Dave could tell by the warble in her voice and the look on her face that Abby was nervous as hell about speaking in front of everyone. After she spoke her opening lines, she paused and searched the crowd with her eyes finally resting on their motley group. As she made eye contact with him, he gave her a wink and a smile and that seemed to reassure her a bit.

Abby, who wanted nothing more than to bolt from the stage and resume her place among the other graduates, saw the wink her dad gave her and smiled slightly; just knowing her family was in the audience and were all rooting for her gave her a confidence boost and she continued in a much stronger voice.

"I received notice that I would be giving the valedictory address less than a week ago and my first reaction was, 'What in the world am I going to talk about?' So I asked many of you for your thoughts and almost everyone said to keep it short and simple, but graduation is a time of reflecting on the past and looking onward to the future, so short and simple is a difficult goal to achieve. It is a time when we, as graduates, get together for one last hurrah before moving on to new and different adventures."

As her daughter continued to speak, JJ looked on in wonder at her. Where was the newborn that looked at her in wonderment, as if she had all of the world's answers in the palm of her hand? Where was the little girl who used to dress up in her clothes and pretend she was going to work with her? Where was the eleven year old who had stepped up to the plate and learned to cook so they could have something edible for dinner every night? Where was the teen who had given her her first gray hairs with her inability to stay out of danger? And who in the hell was the confident woman standing before them? She felt herself tearing up, but managed to keep her emotions at bay as she tuned back in to her daughter's speech.

"I cannot leave here today without thanking some very special people who have played an important role during my high school years. First, I would like to thank the faculty here; every teacher I've ever had here has made me feel like they believe in me, that they want me to succeed in life and it's been a great feeling. I also want to thank all of my friends; it's been a long haul but we finally made it! I definitely want to thank my family, both my blood family and my FBI family. You guys have all shown me what it's like to be part of a caring extended family and you've never hesitated to help me when I've needed it…I've never felt alone having all of you around." She paused for a second and looked at Dave and JJ. "Finally, I would like to thank my parents. It's been an…interesting couple of years, but you both have supported me and loved me unconditionally and I wouldn't be where I am today without all of your help. I love you guys." Abby paused as a wave of impromptu applause began to roll. Both of her parents were glad for the applause because it gave them a chance to wipe their eyes before their tears spilled over.

"I tried to find inspiring an inspiring quote to end this speech," Abby continued, "but I came across many that I couldn't understand. Finally, I realized Dr. Seuss said it best when he wrote:

'You have brains in your head.  
You have feet in your shoes.  
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.  
You're on your own.  
And you know what you know.

You are the guy who'll decide where to go. '

"So here's to the class of 2011; this is our time to shine!" Abby looked around the gymnasium for a moment and then stepped away from the podium. She made her way back to her seat as the applause rolled on.


	119. Chapter 120

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 120

**~Wow, so this is the end of another long journey. When I started this story, I thought it would be half of the size of 'An Unconventional Family,' but it kind of took on a life of it's own. There WILL be another story in this universe, but I have some one-shots to finish and I've had a Rossi/Strauss mini-epic that's been floating in my brain for awhile that I want to write so I might not start the next story in this universe for another month or so. **

**~I want to thank my loyal reviewers! The reviews truly kept me going with this story and I never would have finished it without your feedback! That being said, I hope that everyone takes a minute or two to either review or PM me and let me know what you liked about this story, what you didn't like and what you would like to see in the next story.**

**~Thanks again to everyone for making this story a success!**

* * *

Abby was temporarily blinded as yet another flash went off. "Perfect!" Garcia declared, holding the complicated and expensive camera up in triumph. Dave and JJ had given the camera to Abby for her graduation and Garcia had been using it for the last hour to take pictures of the graduates. "This is an adorable picture of the three of you," she elaborated as she examined the camera's screen.

Abby grinned and glanced at her father, her father who had just been called 'adorable,' and she wasn't disappointed in his reaction. "Garcia, you can call me handsome, rugged, manly, just _not_ adorable. Hamsters are adorable, babies are adorable, but I am not. Got it?"

"Oh poo," Garcia said with a wave of her hand. "I don't know if you know this or not, Agent Hard Ass Wannabe, but when you are within twenty feet of your wife or daughter, you turn downright cuddly. I know you want the world at large to think you're an uncaring bastard but that cat has long been out of the bag."

It was all that Abby and JJ could do to not burst out laughing at his expression. Since the three of them were still in their pose, it was hard to hide their amusement from the world class profiler and they both received glares in return. "Are we done here?" He asked gruffly.

"Well you are, Mr. Growly Bear, but I still need some pictures of the graduate lovebirds together," she said.

"Penelope," Abby groaned, "You realize it's hot out here, right? And these gowns aren't exactly conducive for cooling off."

"Come on, Abby!" Garcia begged as Jack came over and put his arm around his girlfriend . "The next time we get pictures like this of the two of you probably won't be until your wedding."

"For Christ's sake, Garcia! These two _just_ graduated from high school; can you please wait a few years before you start planning their wedding? Preferably ten or fifteen years," Dave said firmly as the idea that his daughter technically _could _get married made his stomach churn in distress.

"Fine, fine," she said and then held the camera up again. "Now come on you two, let's get some pictures taken."

After another fifteen minutes of poses with Jack, Garcia finally set the camera down and the two teens went into the house to get changed. As they got to the second floor, Jack squeezed her hand and asked softly, "So are we still on for tonight?" They had discussed the whole 'sleeping together thing' many times since the prom and both of them had decided they were ready to take their relationship to the next level.

Abby nodded, "I even got my mom to agree to let me stay out all night. I'm pretty sure she guessed the reason why, but she didn't say anything about it. Do you still want to do it?"

"Of course I do," he answered immediately. "And my dad is letting me stay out all night too, but I just wanted to make sure you still want to do it, because if you don't, it's totally fine, I don't want to push you into doing something you don't-" His words were cut off by Abby's lips pressing against his.

"This is something I _definitely _want to do," she told him as she pulled away. "I love you Jack and I want to make our love physical."

"Okay," he said with a soft smile and then changed the subject. "We'd better hurry and get back down there before Penelope comes looking for us again." With that, he disappeared into the guest room to change while Abby went into her own.

xxxxxxxxxx

Twenty minutes later, Abby was in the kitchen with Nonna, watching the older woman fix all of the side dishes. She'd tried helping with the cooking, but Nonna had refused, saying that Abby was one of the two people of honor at the party and she shouldn't have to do a thing to help. When Abby had pushed the issue, Nonna had gone so far as to chase her from the kitchen, brandishing a wooden spoon, which had amused her father, uncle and aunts to no end. Ten minutes later, she had hesitantly re-entered the kitchen under the promise of not lifting a finger and Nonna had agreed to her terms.

"That was a lovely speech you gave today, Abby," she said as she diced the potatoes for her homemade potato salad.

"Thanks Nonna; I meant every word of it…I don't know what I would've done without you and the rest of the family these past couple of years, especially during these last few months," she said. "I was close with my Grandma Abby before she died, and I never thought…well, I never thought there would be anyone else like her in my life again but then I met you and, I don't know, I suddenly felt…not so alone…I never thought I would have another loving grandmother, or a caring group of aunts and uncles and I feel really blessed to be a part of this family." Abby had been looking at the counter while she had been speaking and when she looked up at her grandmother, she saw the woman had tears in her eyes.

Marie wiped her hands on a dishtowel, walked over to her granddaughter and gave her a bone crushing hug. "And we're all blessed to have you in our lives, Little One," she said. "I know we've only known each other for a couple of years, but I couldn't love you more if I tried."

Dave and JJ walked in and found the two wiping at their eyes. "Oh Jeez," Dave said, "Did we walk in on some girl talk?"

"Hush Davie!" Marie admonished as she went back to working on the potatoes. "We were just talking about our family."

"We'll head back outside," JJ said, pulling her husband with her.

"Wait, you can stay," Abby said and her parents smiled and came further into the kitchen.

"Need some help ma?" Dave asked as he tied his 'Kiss the Cook' apron around himself while JJ sat down next to Abby at the breakfast bar. Marie nodded and handed him a bunch of potatoes and a knife.

"Why did I overhear Adam Sanford talking about how all of his college acceptances were suddenly rescinded?" Abby asked and saw her mother stiffen next to her as her father paused in his chopping.

"What are you talking about, Pumpkin?" Dave asked in what he hoped was a casual voice; the absolute LAST thing he needed was for his daughter to learn that he, JJ, Hotch, Emily, Jack and Garcia had all met in Penelope's lair the previous weekend and had wreaked havoc with the scumbag's life.

"I'm talking about Adam Sanford's college life being ruined. I'm talking about you having a hand in it and," she continued in a louder voice as she saw Garcia trying to tiptoe from the bathroom and out the patio door, "I'm talking about you not being able to do it alone and needing the assistance of a technical goddess!"

"Abby," Dave began, but his wife jumped in to save him, or to at least spread the blame.

"We all did it, Abby," she said nervously. "Last weekend we all met in Garcia's office and went to town on the kid's electronic life."

"ALL of you? You mean the entire team?"

"No, just me, your father, Aaron, Emily and-" JJ stopped abruptly, not wanting to get her pseudo nephew in trouble.

"And who else?" Abby pushed.

"Jack," JJ whispered and waited for the explosion that was sure to follow. After a full minute of silence, JJ chanced it and looked at her daughter. To her surprise, there wasn't anger going across her features. Instead, there was a look of satisfaction and amusement.

"Why didn't you tell me? I would've helped!" Abby said with a smile on her face.

"Wait! You explicitly told me not to do anything to him; you said you didn't want this hanging over the last few weeks of school," Dave said, both relieved and confused by his daughter's reaction.

"Exactly!" Abby said nodding, "But this won't affect my time at school because school is done! I would've loved to have fucked with him!" Remembering her grandmother was in the room, Abby clamped her hand over her mouth. "Sorry Nonna," she said from behind her hand.

Her grandmother gave her a steady look, "Since it's your graduation day, you get one free one but if I hear that word come out of your mouth again, you and I will be spending some time with a bar of soap. Understand?"

"Yes ma'am," Abby nodded while her father grinned like a Cheshire cat.

"What are you smiling about, Davie?" Marie asked. "I'm sure your daughter didn't even know what those words meant until you entered her life, so unless you also want to meet up with a bar of soap, you'll wipe that smirk off of your face."

This time it was Abby's turn to grin, although she did it behind her hand so her grandmother wouldn't see. "So what did you do to him?" She asked, anxious to hear the answer.

"Well, first your father used his pull with various alumni from the schools Adam applied to and he 'convinced' them to put in a bad word with some of the deans and the people in the admissions office," JJ explained.

"And then I hacked into the all of their databases and 'updated' some of the sleazebag's information," Garcia said.

"Finally, after we pretty much wrecked his chances for college, for this year at least, we had some fun putting him on government watch lists," Dave told her. "Let's just say that Adam will have to stay five hundred feet away from any school or playground and he'll have to travel by train for the foreseeable future."

"You guys are horrible!" Abby said, laughing, "But seriously, thanks. Thank for both protecting me and for respecting my wishes by waiting until school was done before you did anything."

"Any time, Pumpkin," Dave said as he came around the counter and kissed the top of her head. "Now, let's go see if the guys can manage to turn on the grill without setting the yard on fire."

xxxxxxxxxx

Two hours later, JJ took her last bite of hamburger and then sat back in her chair and watched the scene in front of her. Penelope and Derek looked disgustingly adorable, wrapped in each other's arms as they sat back from the table. Rumor had it, and by rumor she meant Penelope, they were beginning to discuss marriage. Marriage as in 'we should get married someday,' but marriage none the less.

Also looking nauseatingly cute were Hotch and Emily. Both were listening to Jack as he finished a story and they had their hands tightly entwined. JJ couldn't remember ever seeing her boss looking so relaxed…so happy and she knew Emily was over the moon for him. The two had been living together for over two months and while neither one of them had ever discussed, JJ was sure that marriage was looming in their futures as well.

She slid her eyes from the happy couples over to her newly acquired family. Dave's brother John was discussing something with Spencer and the two men looked quite animated in their discussion, while Marie was listening to both of her daughters discuss the latest reality TV show they were following. JJ had never imagined there were close and happy families in the world, having come from her own dysfunctional one, but her eyes had been opened by the Rossi family and she was grateful they had accepted her and her daughter without hesitation.

She shifted her eyes to her daughter and husband, who were sitting in front of her and were engaged in a conversation, a funny one if Abby's laughter was anything to go by. She watched as Dave lightly admonished her for talking through a mouthful of food and then saw Abby swallow exaggeratedly. Dave rolled his eyes and smiled at her before finishing his story and JJ's heart swelled with love for both of them.

As she had laid on the ground in New York, with the blood seeping out of her chest, she had prayed that she her family would find happiness without her and she had never imagined she would live to be a part of it, but she had and it seemed as though some happiness had come out of the trials and tribulations they had suffered during the spring. She smiled as she thought about it; they had gotten their happily ever after. It wasn't the type that was found in fairytales, but it was their own and that's all that mattered.

**_The End_**


End file.
